Internet tech becomes powerful bond connecting economic opportunities with lifeblood of culture: HK, Macao, Taiwan representatives at Wuzhen Summit

Internet technology is penetrating information barriers, becoming a powerful bond that connects economic opportunities with the lifeblood of culture, while China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area serves as a key platform for this integration process, the representatives from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan said at a forum at the ongoing 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit on Saturday.

Across the Taiwan Straits and in the Hong Kong and Macao regions, strong technological foundations, vibrant youth communities, and rich culture converge to form a unique landscape for innovation. How to leverage internet platforms to achieve institutional synergy, industrial complementarity, and cultural co-creation has become a key question in the new era. Under the theme "Collaborate to Empower, Innovate for Tomorrow," the forum brought together youths from across the Taiwan Straits, Hong Kong, and Macao to share stories of embracing the age of intelligence.

"Unbelievable!" When asked about his feelings on the development of the mainland technology, said Fu Tenglong, vice president of the Macao Live Streaming Association. This was his first time attending the WIC.

Fu told the Global Times that the changes in the mainland over the past two or three years have been faster than those in the previous decade—from WeChat Pay to AI large models and humanoid robots—the efficiency of technological iteration has improved, significantly.

Fu's personal experience is a microcosm of the potential for digital cooperation between the mainland and Macao. According to him, he started an e-commerce venture on the mainland in 2014, and later returned to Macao to promote the digital transformation of local society.

"The internet entrepreneurship experience on the mainland allowed us to master internet thinking, which became a natural advantage after returning to Macao. We use a set of tech means to help traditional industries upgrade and transform, selling products to the mainland and other markets," Fu said.

According to Fu, starting from 2020, the Macao Live Streaming Association spent five years training young people to promote the development of cross-border e-commerce and internet new media.

"Just yesterday, an offline retailer told me that after the training, by enlisting bloggers for promotion, the foot traffic in the store surged within 24 hours, and their stocked inventory was basically sold out in a few days. This shift in mindset allows enterprises to continuously explore new possibilities and is also an important measure to promote Macao's integration into the national development," he said.

He noted that the internet knows no boundaries—the abilities that Macao youth have accumulated through practice can, in the future, both assist mainland enterprises in expanding overseas and help enterprises from Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries enter the Chinese market.

Lin Shu Jen, deputy general manager of an agricultural tech company based in Taiwan island, told the Global Times that since entering Peking University for his PhD in 2013 until now, he has witnessed the rapid development on the mainland from mobile payments to shared bicycles, then to short videos and AI large models. "The mainland sees iterative upgrades in business models almost every year, not only offering vast market opportunities but also actively investing in hard technology fields," Lin said.

Internet technology has opened up new pathways for cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Straits and with Hong Kong and Macao, with the Greater Bay Area serving as an "amplifier" for cultural dissemination.

Xia Xiaohui, CEO of Inkeverse, an all-scenario new social platform encompassing live-streaming, told the Global Times that micro dramas have become an important carrier for cultural dissemination across the Taiwan Straits and with Hong Kong and Macao.

"Works containing Chinese cultural elements such as filial piety move many audiences to tears when played in Hong Kong, Macao, and the Taiwan island; this cultural resonance is our natural bond," Xia said.

According to him, his group has specifically laid out strategies in the Greater Bay Area, assembling a team in Hengqin to develop a Cantonese live-streaming segment and micro drama business. This includes not only remaking classic IPs from Hong Kong and Taiwan island but also disseminating them through multiple channels such as WeChat Mini Programs and apps, "achieving both economic benefits and allowing Chinese culture to reach broader markets," Xia noted.

The coordinated development across the Taiwan Straits and with Hong Kong and Macao is advancing in depth at various levels. Cheong Man Lei, deputy director of Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said in the speech that Hong Kong has achieved a breakthrough in the cross-boundary flow of personal data within the Greater Bay Area, and the next step will explore compliant flows of industry data, providing broader space for research teams and enterprises in the Greater Bay Area.

Wong Ka Lon, member from the Legislative Assembly of Macao Special Administrative Region, said that the cross-border e-commerce support fund policy introduced by the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, explicitly provides subsidies at 1.2 times the rate for Macao-funded enterprises.

A Macao-based MCN institution, leveraging the subsidy policy of the cooperation zone's live streaming base, expanded from a 3-person team to a 50-person team in just half a year, Wong said, noting that: "This is the expressway that the motherland has paved for Macao's new economy."

"People across the Taiwan Straits are inherently one family; we speak mutually intelligible languages, share similar dietary preferences, and our blood ties are even more closely connected," Lin Wanyun, a blogger from Taiwan, told the Global Times.

Lin Wanyun noted the Taiwan island has unique advantages in sectors such as semiconductors and precision manufacturing, while the mainland boasts vast application scenarios and a complete industrial ecosystem, leaving broad space for mutual complementarity of advantages between the two sides.

"In the future, I look forward to more cross-Straits exchanges, leveraging our common strengths, combining the mainland's market potential with Taiwan's industrial chain advantages, and jointly building our homeland connected by our roots," the Taiwan-based blogger said.

"The mainland can provide fertile soil for Taiwan compatriots to realize their dreams, and I look forward to more Taiwan youths joining together in the great tide of cross-Straits integration and development," Lin Shu Jen said.