Exploring Hengqin again after two years of division - Customs urges accelerated development of Qin'ao integration

Passengers can easily clear customs through the Hengqin Port Entry Inspection Hall. Photo by Yang Jing

On March 1st of this year, the Hengqin Guangdong Macao Deep Cooperation Zone celebrated its second anniversary of implementing the policy of branch line management. Gongbei Customs announced today that in the past two years (March 1, 2024- February 28, 26), the customs has inspected and released more than 55.5 million inbound and outbound personnel and 6.26 million vehicles on the "front line", a year-on-year increase of 102% and 87.7% compared to before the line management; The cumulative number of vehicles released in the "second tier" area has exceeded 41.25 million. There are 2363 enterprises registered with the customs, and the import and export value of enterprises in the Hengqin Cooperation Zone is 69.69 billion yuan from 2024 to 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 31.8%.

Acceleration: Further acceleration of factor circulation

Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) is coming, and the "Macao New Neighborhood" in Hengqin is becoming more and more lively. At the activity site of "Attracting Wealth into Baoqing Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival)", card punching devices, folk handicrafts and parade performances took turns, and Qin'ao residents gathered together.

"I have spent Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) in Hengqin for two consecutive years. The real feeling is that there is no big difference between living in Hengqin and living in Macao. Now the customs clearance is fast, the two places are well integrated, and daily living and travel are very comfortable." Macao resident Huang Zicai said.

Driving into the country from Hengqin Port, the country's first "Guangdong Macao Joint One Stop" efficient operation of passenger and freight vehicles can complete the inspection of 5 units in both places with one stop. Over the past two years, Gongbei Customs has continued to solidify the dividends of this innovative model: the number of channels has expanded from 15 to 30, freight functions have been restored, Qin'ao students have been able to clear customs without getting off the car, and various livelihood measures such as Qin'ao's "hospital hospital" point-to-point transportation have been implemented, and "settling down+life" and "education+medical care" have fully bloomed.

Nowadays, Hengqin has become the most concentrated area for mainland Australians and Australian enterprises. The number of Australian funded enterprises has exceeded 7600, and the number of Macau residents living and working has reached 30000. The cross-border traffic and passenger flow between Qinhuangdao and Macau have repeatedly reached new highs, with a maximum of 13737 vehicles and 147000 people per day, which is 2.3 times and 3.1 times higher than the first day of implementation of branch line management. With the introduction of a new round of measures to support and serve the construction of the Hengqin Cooperation Zone by customs, regulatory policies such as facilitating the entry and exit of single license plate operating vehicles in Macau are being studied at an accelerated pace, adding new expectations for customs clearance convenience.

After leaving the event site, Huang Zicai will drive across the "second line" Hengqin Bridge to the downtown of Zhuhai to buy Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) ingredients. Here, the daily inspection and release of vehicles in the customs area exceeds 30000, which is more than three times the daily inbound and outbound traffic of the "first line". Faced with the continuously increasing flow of large vehicles, customs has innovated intelligent inspection and release, on-board inspection and release modes to make customs clearance smoother and provide a better experience.

Breaking through the impasse: New business models bring more vitality to life

On February 27th, a truck carrying integrated circuit chips entered the customs inspection site through the "second-line" Hengqin Tunnel. Customs officers quickly inspected and released the goods worth over 7 million yuan from Xinchao (Zhuhai) Technology Co., Ltd., marking the official landing of the first bonded research and development business in the Hengqin Cooperation Zone.

This is just a microcosm of the accelerated formation of Hengqin's "bonded+" industrial ecosystem. In the past two years, the Hengqin Cooperation Zone has expanded from a single bonded logistics to diversified formats such as bonded display, bonded processing, and bonded leasing. Biopharmaceuticals, chip processing, and other industries have grown rapidly, and the agglomeration effect of key platforms such as integrated circuit design industrial park and traditional Chinese medicine technology industrial park continues to emerge.

Previously, our business was relatively single, and with the implementation of separate line management, new projects and businesses continued to be implemented. Customs gave advance lectures and guidance throughout the process, helping us solve the difficult problems in the customs clearance process one by one, and giving our enterprise more confidence in development. Li Meirui, the customer manager of Zhuhai Steady Customs Declaration Agency Co., Ltd., said.

Many Australian funded enterprises are the first to taste the policy's "first taste soup". The branch line management has expanded the scope of entities and goods eligible for tax exemption policies, bringing tangible dividends to institutions such as the Zhuhai University of Science and Technology Research Institute. Multiple batches of related equipment are eligible for tax exemption policies, effectively promoting the deep linkage between industry, academia, and research in Qin'ao.

Cultural and tourism exhibitions are also full of highlights. The customs have simplified customs clearance procedures and increased policy supply through addition and subtraction. From the successful holding of the first AIE Expo to the efficient exchange of cultural exhibits such as Sanxingdui cultural relics between the two places, the integration momentum of Qin'ao's "one exhibition, two places" continues to be released.

Integration: Expanding the Field of Rule Connection

Behind the acceleration of Qin'ao integration is the deep connection of rules between the two regions. At the beginning of the implementation of the sub line management, the customs focused on the connection mechanism between the Qin'ao rules, and 15 cross-border cooperation mechanisms were included in the "four beams and eight pillars" to support the smooth implementation of the sub line management in the Hengqin Cooperation Zone.

In the past two years, Gongbei Customs has focused on the connection of Qin'ao rules and mechanisms, and has created a series of pioneering measures in areas such as customs clearance management, health quarantine, agricultural and food product safety supervision, customs clearance cooperation, and technical cooperation, continuously expanding the scope. Currently, 22 cross-border cooperation mechanisms have been formed, and "Qin'ao Same City" has gradually transformed from a beautiful vision to a real experience for residents and enterprises in both places.

While benchmarking against international high standard economic and trade rules, the customs have innovated new models such as "one code traceability" for food, guiding Macau food production enterprises to conduct production and business activities in accordance with mainland food safety regulations and technical specifications, and promoting the two-way aggregation of "Macau elements" and "mainland elements".

Over the past two years, the customs has closely adhered to the new positioning of 'Macao+Hengqin' and continuously innovated regulatory services in promoting the diversified development of industries and deep integration of people's livelihoods in Qinhuangdao and Macao. We have made every effort to create a model room for deepening the connection mechanism of rules and exploring innovation, helping the efficient flow of resources and factors between the two places, promoting the two-way integration of rules and mechanisms, accelerating the process of integrated development between Qinhuangdao and Macao, and enriching the new demonstration of 'One Country, Two Systems' practice, "said Zhang Lifen, Deputy Director of Hengqin Customs under Gongbei Customs. (Written by Cai Qiuyun and Shi Linling)