A Comparative Study on the Regional Governance Models of Four Major Cooperation Platforms in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Promoting the construction of major cooperation platforms serves as a crucial window for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to fulfill its new positioning of "one point, two places" and further comprehensively deepen reforms and steadily expand institutional openness, thereby facilitating the "point-to-area" approach to lead and drive the comprehensive deepening of cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. From a practical perspective, the four major cooperation platforms have gradually evolved into distinct regional governance models during their construction and development: the "cooperative government" model in Hengqin, the "statutory organization" model in Qianhai, the "localization management" model in Nansha, and the "park cooperation" model in Hetao. A comparison of the regional governance models of the four cooperation platforms reveals that vertical, horizontal, diagonal and networked intergovernmental relations have played different roles in shaping the diverse power structures of regional governance. The "top-down" approach is the common path for the four platforms to build regional governance power structure, while the intergovernmental power configuration is the differentiated condition for the four platforms to build regional governance power structure. Location attribute, service object, strategic positioning, and interest allocation are the four influencing factors that give rise to different regional governance models.