Month: February 2023

SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 28, 2023 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– The 16 Co-operation Measures for the Development of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Intellectual Property and Innovation Hub (16 Measures), jointly promulgated by the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone of Shenzhen Municipality and the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, became effective on February 23. This move not only signifies an upgraded level of cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the area of intellectual property (IP), but also marks Qianhai’s advanced steps towards both the “construction of a primary-choice location for Hong Kong’s integration into national development” and an intellectual property and innovation hub.

It is understood that the 16 Measures cover initiatives in four key areas: promoting the harmonization of IP rules and systems between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, supporting the exploitation and transformation of Hong Kong’s IP in Qianhai, fostering cross-boundary IP services, and developing the Qianhai  Shenzhen-Hong Kong IP and Innovation Hub. Under the 16 Measures, any technology transfer center, jointly set up by a leading company and a Hong Kong University or R&D center, will be subsidized with 50% of the actual operational expenses (up to 1 million yuan per year). Additionally, any Hong Kong or international IP service provider who settles in Qianhai will be entitled to a subsidy of up to 2 million yuan.

Some analysts say that the 16 Measures will effectively assist Hong Kong IP service providers to tap the mainland market by utilizing Qianhai as a “bridgehead”. Also of note, the IP industry businesses already in Qianhai could draw on Hong Kong’s unique advantages and platforms to connect with international markets and accelerate their own development.

Victor YANG, President and CEO of Purplevine IP Group (Shenzhen) Co, Ltd., said that the 16 Measures are likely to accelerate the process of Qianhai businesses establishing themselves in this area.

Victor characterizes the 16 Measures as forward-looking, and that they embody a broader perspective. One of the important guiding directions is to encourage and support IP operations, which enables the value of IPs to be greater reflected in the marketplace. The 16 Measures provide highly targeted initiatives. “Through unified design of top-level systems and rules, the ‘isolated island’ has been connected.” The establishment of an IP and innovation hub in Qianhai that is connected with Shenzhen, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), and effectively to the rest of the world, will solve the issue of connecting and clustering services, resulting in increased efficiency. The new hub will attract essential talent to meet the demands for IP service professionals specialized in law, technology, finance, business, etc.

Statistics show that in 2022, Qianhai businesses obtained 21,742 new patent authorizations, submitted 762 PCT applications, and owned 11,864 valid invention patents. A holistic protection system, covering judicial, administrative, arbitration, notary, and legal services related to intellectual property is taking shape in Qianhai.

Source: Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone

FUZHOU, China, Feb. 28, 2023 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– Recently, the promotional video of Fuzhou city of Fujian Province, titled “What You Did Not Know about Fuzhou — Jasmine Tea”, was released through overseas social media accounts including “Oriental.Paris”, “Discover Fujian” and “Discover Fuzhou”, inviting overseas friends to taste the history and customs of Fuzhou through a cup of Chinese tea, according to the Publicity Department of the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee.

In the promo video, scented tea with fresh fragrance is made out of a jasmine flower through ingenious craftsmanship and numerous processes. These traditional techniques have been passed down for thousands of years in Fuzhou. It not only contains the unique romance of “A jasmine flower, a lifelong attachment”, it has shaped the character of Fuzhou people and instilled a great sense of family and country into them. Today, jasmine tea has gradually become a characteristic name card of this coastal modern city to go global, present its new look and build friendship.

Jasmine Tea — the world-class “Intangible Cultural Heritage” has become a characteristic name card of Fuzhou.

In December 2022, “Chinese traditional tea making techniques and related customs” passed the review and was included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The jasmine tea scenting process of Fuzhou, a national intangible cultural heritage of China, is one of the representative programs of the application list.

Fuzhou’s jasmine tea is a millennia-old flower messenger of China. As an important node city of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Fuzhou is taking tea as a matchmaker to scale up international connections, drill down regional cooperations, and spread out fragrance, friendship, and peace to the world.

Source: The Publicity Department of the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee

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SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 28, 2023 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/– Qianhai now appears to be the first stop for Hong Kong-invested financial institutions to enter the mainland, and Qianhai has made another breakthrough in financial innovation. On February 23, the Opinions on Providing Financial Support for the Comprehensive Deepening of Reform and Opening Up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions) was officially released. With it, Qianhai will play a greater role in helping Hong Kong integrate into the overall national development, according to the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone.

The Opinions set out 30 financial measures, covering financial services related to people’s livelihoods, mutual access between financial markets, the development of the modern financial industry, facilitation of cross-border trade, investment, financing, and strengthening of cooperation in financial supervision. More specifically, the newly-released measures include helping Hong Kong residents to open accounts with mainland banks, facilitating Hong Kong professionals to practice in the mainland, allowing financial securities institutions to carry out direct financing in Hong Kong, and pilot the transfer of private equity and venture capital shares. The 30 measures have further defined the path to achieving a higher and deeper level of financial opening up and cooperation with Hong Kong.

“The introduction of the 30 measures marks another round of promotion of mutual financial market access between Shenzhen and Hong Kong,” said David Liao, co-chief executive of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Asia-Pacific, in a recent interview, “The measures will lay the foundation for the convergence of financial rules and mechanisms in the Greater Bay Area, and allow the exploration of new paths for the high-level opening up of the mainland’s financial industry.”

Dah Sing Bank Shenzhen Branch, China’s first bank with a dual operation license, was opened, and UBS Qianhai Wealth Management Co. Ltd., the first wholly foreign-owned wealth manager in the Greater Bay Area, was opened. DBS Bank became the largest shareholder in the Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank, and HSBC increased its stake in HSBC Qianhai Securities to 90%. A number of internationally renowned financial institutions, including Standard Chartered, settled in Qianhai through QFLP.

In recent years, Qianhai’s financial industry has constantly aligned with international standards, and Qianhai has continued to highlight its function as a demonstration window of the opening up of the financial industry in China. In terms of innovation for cross-border finance, Qianhai was the first in the country to implement six cross-border RMB services, namely cross-border RMB loans, cross-border bond issuance, cross-border RMB foreign currency cash pooling, cross-border equity investment, cross-border asset transfer, and cross-border financial infrastructure. Qianhai will continue to expand into other cross-border services. In 2022, Shenzhen and Hong Kong promulgated the first 18 measures for supporting venture capital investments in Qianhai, and Qianhai was to establish an international Shenzhen-Hong Kong venture capital cluster. The Qianhai Mercantile Exchange of HKEX Group has had a total of over 130 billion yuan of spot transactions. So far, 247 financial institutions have settled in and signed with Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Financial City, among which Hong Kong and foreign-funded institutions account for 30%.

Now, the Opinions have advanced new goals for the opening up of Qianhai’s financial industry. By 2025, Qianhai will establish and gradually improve upon the policy and management system to focus on the expansion and opening up of the financial industry and the internationalization of RMB, accomplish high-level mutual access with Hong Kong’s financial market, improve the system for monitoring, preventing, and resolving financial risks, and give finance a more prominent role in supporting the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. By 2035, a higher level of financial openness, based on the negative list, will be achieved, the cross-border capital flow will be more efficient and convenient, the financial rule system will be in line with the international system, and the financial environment will reach a world-class level. By then, Qianhai will play a greater role in leading the opening of the national financial industry.

The plan is for Qianhai to put together an implementation task list for the Opinions to set up a task plan, roadmap, timeline, and accountability system. Qianhai will strive to hold a Shenzhen-Hong Kong Financial Forum, strengthen the Shenzhen-Hong Kong financial regulatory cooperation system, prevent cross-border financial risks, and promote the further opening up and development of Qianhai.

Source: Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone