President calls for awareness of area's status, function during inspection tour
China has vowed to step up the integrated development of the Yangtze
River Delta in order to make the region the pacesetter of the new
development pattern with the domestic market as the mainstay and the
domestic and foreign markets complementing each other.
During his inspection tour of Anhui province last week, President Xi
Jinping called for a stronger awareness of the status and function of
the delta-which involves Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces and
Shanghai-in China's economic and social development in order to promote
the region's integrated development amid grave and complex domestic and
international circumstances.
Xi made the remark while presiding over a symposium on advancing the
integrated development of the region in Hefei, capital of Anhui. The
symposium was attended by Vice-Premier Han Zheng and other senior
officials of the related departments from the central government as well
as related provincial-level officials.
Noting that the region should rise to be the trailblazer of China's
technological and industrial innovation, Xi said the entire delta region
should not only provide quality products but also serve as a source of
high-level technologies to support the country's high-quality
development.
Xi underscored the need to make faster progress in developing the
region to a new height of reform and opening-up. Efforts should be made
to improve the business environment in line with world-class standards,
and attract talent and enterprises from home and abroad with a
development environment which has a high level of openness, services,
innovation and efficiency, he said.
The president also called for efforts to promote trade and investment
facilitation and strive to make the delta region an important bridge
between the international and domestic markets.
Xi's remarks came as the country is striving to accelerate the
establishment of a "dual circulation" development pattern, in which the
domestic economic cycle plays a leading role while the international
economic cycle is its extension and supplement. The development pattern
aims to cope with an external environment characterized by rising
protectionism, a global economic downturn and a shrinking international
market.
China unveiled a plan for the integrated development of the delta in
December as part of its national strategies for integrated regional
development, which also involve integrated development of the
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The delta region, considered to be China's most vibrant area in terms
of technological innovation and economic development, has a built-in
advantage in advancing the new development pattern as it boasts abundant
talents, strong manufacturing, well-developed industrial and supply
chains and vast market potential.
A draft of the spatial planning for the region's integration
demonstration zone, an area of 2,400 square kilometers at the border of
Shanghai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, was published on June 18 to
seek opinions from the public.
It set out a blueprint for infrastructure construction, natural and
cultural heritage conservation, and transportation routes, as well as
industrial parks in the area by 2035. According to the plan, the area
will have a population of 3.8 million and generate 1.5 billion yuan
($216.9 million) in GDP per square kilometer per year.
Zhejiang, which boasts the nation's most vibrant private economy, is
planning to invest over 200 billion yuan in the construction of major
projects concerning the integration of the region this year.
Zhejiang should fully utilize its booming private sector, which
accounts for over 60 percent of its GDP, 70 percent of taxation and
exports, and 80 percent of its gross employment, in regional
integration, Weng Jianrong, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial
Development and Reform Commission, said in an interview at the end of
July.
Zhou Jun, Party secretary of the Hangzhou branch of internet giant
NetEase Inc, said Zhejiang should take full advantage of its strength in
the digital economy sector to construct a "Digital Yangtze River
Delta".
He urged the provincial authorities to work out more favorable
policies to attract high-end talents from abroad to make Zhejiang a
major engine in boosting scientific and technological innovation in the
delta region.