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fairly extensive involvement in China, it is only one of the destinations for foreign investment by Hong Kong businessmen, who are, in any case, increasingly looking
elsewhere.
65.
(f) Hong Kong's future position and
economic role in the Pearl River Delta region
One particular aspect of China's modernisation
in which Hong Kong is likely to play an increasing role in
the future is in relation to the development of southern
China, especially the Pearl River Delta region. It is
apparent that the towns and counties in that region are
already developing faster than most of China, partly but
not wholly because of their links with Hong Kong. Indeed,
there has been a suggestion that the City of Foshan is
already the most prosperous town of its size in China.
The Seventh Five-Year Plan, with its emphasis on the
development of the main coastal cities, will tend to
reinforce this trend.
66.
The emergence of the Pearl River Delta as a region of rapid development has tended to be overlooked until recently, partly because of the attention that has
been paid to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and, to a
lesser extent, the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone. These
early experiments in economic liberalisation do not seem
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