China issues an outline for the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council issued an outline regarding the construction blueprint of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle over the next five to 15 years, demonstrating its determination to foster a key growth pole in western China. It has 12 chapters, puts forward 9 major missions to promote the regional growth of the Economic Circle.

The Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle is another important regional development strategy, following the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

PLANNED AREA

Occupying an area of 185,000 square kilometers, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle takes up 1.9 percent of the country's total land territory. The area covers the central areas and nearly 30 other districts and counties in Chongqing Municipality as well as 15 cities in Sichuan province, including Chengdu and Zigong. In 2019, the area had a permanent population of around 96 million and saw regional GDP near 6.3 trillion yuan (about 983.3 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 6.9 percent and 6.3 percent of the national total, respectively. 

STRATEGIC POSITIONING

The outline aims to turn the Chengdu-Chongqing area into an economic circle, requests that Chongqing and Chengdu should better leverage their strength and distinctive features, and catalyze synergized and high-quality development as a new driver and an important growth engine. 

According to the document, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle is expected to become an important economic center, a center for scientific and technological innovation, a new highland for reform and opening-up and a livable place with a high quality of life. 

DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

By 2025, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle will witness significant increases in economic strength, development vitality and international influence, and about 66 percent of its permanent residents are expected to be living in urban areas.

In five years, it will take only an hour to travel between Chongqing and Chengdu. The area will enjoy a railway network of more than 9,000 km that covers all the cities with a population of over 200,000, while a shipping center and a logistics center for the upper Yangtze River will be basically established.

All urban areas and key scenes will be covered by the 5G network, and the Economic Circle will see a marked improvement in new infrastructure and stronger capabilities in safeguarding energy security.

A regional collaborative innovation system will be basically built in the area, which is expected to see spending on research and development reach around 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product, while the contribution rate of scientific and technological progress will hit 63 percent.

Breakthroughs will be made in the construction of major opening-up platforms such as the pilot free trade zones in Chongqing and Sichuan by 2025, providing stronger support for the joint construction of the Belt and Road, according to the document.

By 2035, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle will become an active growth pole and a powerful driver with international influence, it said.

MAJOR MISSIONS

The outline details 9 major missions, such as to foster a new pattern of development, build a modern infrastructure network, a modern industrial system, a science and technology innovation center, a destination for global consumers, an ecological barrier for the upper Yangtze River, and a new highland for reform and opening-up in inland regions, as well as to push for integrated urban-rural development, and to strengthen the building and sharing of public services.

1. Fostering a new pattern of development for the Economic Circle

To advance the development capacity of Chengdu and Chongqing. Facing the new development era and focusing on modernization, it is vital to adjust the functional layout of the main district of Chongqing and Chengdu. The Economic Circle development can be driven by the promotion of development capacity and comprehensive competitiveness.  

To cultivate and develop modernized metropolitan circles. Efforts should be made to grasp the laws of factor flow and industrial division of labor. Cultivate modernized metropolitan circles of Chongqing and Chengdu, while accelerating the development of surrounding cities, districts, and counties.

To encourage the interaction of the two metropolitan circles and coordination of surrounding areas. Relying on the advantages of rich resources, people-to-people exchanges, industrial connections, strengthening the interaction and coordination, and optimizing the coordinated development pattern of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.

2. Building a modern infrastructure network

To build an integrated comprehensive transport network, such as creating an international aviation hub, jointly building Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle on the rail, improving the highway system of the Economic Circle, promoting the construction of waterway hub of the upper Yangtze River, enhancing the passenger and cargo service quality. 

To improve the energy reliability and sustainability, including the optimizing of regional power supply, coordinating the development of oil and gas resources. 

To strengthen the construction of water conservancy infrastructures, such as to promote the construction of key trans-regional water conservancy projects, enhance the coordination and dispatch ability of water resources, promote to form a water network with reliable complementary and proper division and drainage.

3. Collaborating to establish a modern industrial system

To promote high-quality development of manufacturing, in terms of optimizing the layout of important productivity, cultivating advanced manufacturing clusters with international competitiveness, undertaking industrial transfer, integrating key industrial platforms.

To develop the digital economy, such as to improve the new generation of information infrastructure, cooperate to build a new highland of the digital industry, expand the usage of digital application, increase the level of digital security. 

To foster the development of modern service, including promoting the integrated development of advanced manufacturing and service, enhancing the development condition of commerce and logistics, and building a western financial center. 

To build a modern and efficient agriculture belt, such as to promote high-quality development of agriculture, strengthen the support of agricultural science and technology, develop the market of agricultural products.

4. Establishing a science and technology innovation center with national influence

To build a comprehensive science center in Chengdu and Chongqing, optimize the spatial layout of innovation zones, enhance the ability of collaborative innovation, and create new policy institutions. 

5. Build a destination for global consumers with Bashu cultural features

To create a high-quality consumption space, including branding the city, building a Bashu cultural tourism corridor together.

To build a diversified and integrated consumption industry, in terms of upgrading the consumption supply, developing new ways of consumption. 

To shape a safe and friendly consumption environment, such as to formulate consumption promotion policies, improve the protection system for consumers.

6. Build an ecological barrier for the upper Yangtze River

To promote ecological construction and protection, including building an ecological network, put forward ecological management.

To strengthen the collaborative management of pollution, in terms of unifying environmental protection standards, promoting water environment management, deepening air pollution control and prevention, strengthening soil pollution, and solid and hazardous waste management.

To explore a new path for green transformation in respect of development, such as encouraging green and low-carbon ways of life, developing green experimental pilots. 

7. Build a new highland for reform and opening-up in inland regions

To accelerate the construction of the opening-up corridor, including building new western land-sea corridor together, exercising and improving transcontinental corridor connecting Asia and Europe, optimizing and interconnecting the eastwards corridor.

To speed up the construction of the opening-up platform. The detailed measures contain to build a new pilot free trade zone for collaborative opening-up demonstration in Sichuan and Chongqing, build an inland opening-up gateway, deliver opening-up and cooperation projects with high standards, and jointly build an external exchange center under “the Belt and Road Initiative”.

To strengthen domestic regional cooperation, such as to enhance the coordination and interaction with western regions, support the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, deepen the communication and exchange with eastern coastal regions. 

To create a first-class business environment, build a high-standard market system, and accelerate the transformation of government functions. 

To stimulate the vitality of market entities, deepen the reform of state-owned enterprises, develop the private economy.

To explore the reform of moderate separation of economic zones and administrative regions.

8. Push for integrated urban-rural development

To efficiently promote the allocation of urban-rural elements, such as encouraging greater social and geographic mobility of urban-rural areas, deepening reformation of the urban-rural land system, enhancing the financial guarantee of urban-rural construction.

To balance the allocation of public resources in urban-rural areas, involving the infrastructure integration, promotion of equal basic public service, improvement of primary-level governance

To encourage the coordinated development of industries in urban-rural areas. 

9. Strengthening the building and sharing of public services.

To promote standardization and facilitation of basic public service, including establishing service standards, enhancing the level of facilitation.

To share education, culture, and sports resources, it contains measures to encourage cooperative development of education, establish a modern public cultural service system, promote the development of sports.

To work to collaborate on public health and medical care for the elderly, such as building a strong public health system, optimizing medical resources allocation, intensifying the building and sharing of an old-age service network.

To improve early warning and response mechanisms, in terms of risk prevention standards of public security and planning system. 

Source: <http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2021-10/21/content_5643875.htm>

<http://www.news.cn/english/2021-10/20/c_1310258143.htm>

<http://www.news.cn/english/2021-10/21/c_1310260578.htm>

<https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202110/20/WS61701cf1a310cdd39bc702d9.html>

 Edited and translated by Guo Xinxin