Beijing (AFP)

After the military threat, the economic threat: China announces a development plan of the metropolis of Shenzhen, perceived as a way to cast off the Hong Kong neighbor, where protests against the influence of Beijing persist.

Located immediately outside the former British colony, Shenzhen is considered a good student in the eyes of the communist regime, compared to Hong Kong, where hundreds of thousands of people still marched Sunday to denounce the pro-Beijing executive.

The Chinese government adopted the same day a directive aimed at making Shenzhen a showcase of "Chinese-style socialism", which it wants to see appear by 2025 "at the top of the world's cities in terms of economic power and quality of development ".

Before 2035, the southern metropolis "will be in first place worldwide" in terms of global competitiveness, provides the document, published Monday by the Chinese press.

Originally a simple fishing village, Shenzhen has experienced a rapid development for 40 years, taking advantage of its status as a "Special Economic Zone" to attract Hong Kong investments and export to the territory.

Shenzhen has attracted industries, especially technology, as well as a young and skilled workforce from all over the country.

The city now has more than 12 million inhabitants, against 7 million for Hong Kong. The GDP of both cities has become equivalent.

- "A better place" -

The Chinese press did not fail to establish the rapprochement between the expected development of Shenzhen and the risk that would cause in Hong Kong a continuation of the agitation.

The government project will make Shenzhen "a better place than its neighbor Hong Kong, where two months of radical protests cast a shadow over the city's role as an international financial center," notes the English-language daily Global Times .

"If Hong Kong is still not ready to embrace its chance to participate in the development of the country, its development will be very limited in the future, while Shenzhen will move at high speed," says an expert quoted by the newspaper willingly nationalist.

In the face of protests in Hong Kong, China has caused the threat of armed intervention in the semi-autonomous territory in recent days. The official press has broadcast videos of military convoys heading for Shenzhen, where AFP has seen a rally of troops at a stadium in the city.

Experts believe, however, that Beijing could give up a military intervention, risky for the status of Hong Kong's global financial center of which China is the first beneficiary.

- Attract strangers -

The central government document does not spell out how China plans to accelerate Shenzhen's development.

The directive calls for a "more open and convenient" entry and exit system at the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen - despite its return to China in 1997, Hong Kong remains a separate territory.

Foreign residents would be encouraged to launch high-tech companies in Shenzhen, a potential way to encroach on Hong Kong's international dimension.

Shenzhen is already at the heart of China's major economic zone project around the Pearl River Estuary, which includes Hong Kong, the former Portuguese colony of Macau, and Guangdong Province, which includes Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The group has more than 70 million inhabitants.

But recent tensions could thwart this project.

"Due to the political crisis, China is stepping up border inspections between Hong Kong and Shenzhen and this is jeopardizing this grand integration project," said Ben Bland, Asia specialist at the Australian Lowy Institute.

The announcement of the central government has been greeted in any case by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, third place in China after Hong Kong and Shanghai, whose index index pocketed more than 3% Monday.

© 2019 AFP