Editor's note: Grenville Cross, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a senior counsel and law professor, and former director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan once said, "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." In other words, although an athlete can excel at individual events, lasting success means talented people must pool their abilities and work together. If team sports are to succeed, a high level of cooperation is necessary in pursuit of joint objectives. This involves holistic thinking and imaginative perspectives. 

China's National Games, held once every four years, is the country's highest-level national multi-sports event, emphasizing not only sporting prowess but also national pride. While the first edition was held in Beijing in 1959, subsequent editions were held in different places, culminating in Shaanxi Province in the northwest in 2021.

By contrast, the 15th National Games will be, for the first time, a collaborative effort, co-hosted by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, which together form the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The opening ceremony will be held in Guangdong's capital Guangzhou and the closing ceremony in Shenzhen, the province's industrial hub. Hong Kong will stage eight competition events while some other sports, including the road cycling events, will take place across all three locations.

Although there will be logistical challenges, with facilitators, spectators and tourists needing to move speedily between different locations, the difficulties can be overcome by simplifying customs procedures for cross-regional events like road cycling and marathons, streamlining clearance procedures and expediting transport arrangements and hotel registrations. Greater connectivity lies at the heart of the closer cooperation the GBA envisages, and this will be displayed at the National Games.

The 15th National Games, therefore, will be historic, requiring the closest cooperation between the co-hosts, who need to focus on the bigger picture with an avoidance of petty bureaucracy. While the athletes will compete in mass participation events, the co-hosts are responsible for resolving practical problems, and they must rise to the challenge.

Apart from organizing the sporting events successfully, the co-hosts should also showcase the integrated development of the three regions for the visitors and cultivate the potential of athletes for future global competitions. In the process, they will enhance public awareness not only of particular sports but also of the fruits of close collaboration. 

By any yardstick, co-hosting the National Games is a boost for regional cohesion and will strengthen the national identity. It will foster new levels of governmental cooperation across different systems, which is clearly in the public interest. By working together for common ends, officials from the three areas will be able to adapt their working cultures to suit one another. Important precedents will undoubtedly emerge from which others can learn.

The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) emphasizes cooperation through the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA. The National Games is a chance to embrace collateral development in areas like sport, culture and heritage.

In many ways, therefore, the hosts will be trailblazers, and their example can be emulated by other places. Similar collaborations, for example, are possible in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and elsewhere. Once regional stakeholders constructively pool their talents, the possibilities are endless.

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