Competition, Pandemic Mar New South China Attraction Policies

Tax and subsidy programs in China’s Greater Bay Area Initiative haven’t proved as influential in luring talent to South China as many had hoped.

A blueprint for the initiative was rolled out to much fanfare but relatively scant detail last February. Employing individual income tax incentives and other sweeteners to draw professionals, it is meant to more closely bind the mega-region that includes Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau and eight other cities, home to around 70 million people and one of the country’s key economic regions.

But lawyers and businesses representatives say uptake ...