Xiongan New Area, Crucial for the Millennium to Come

The central leadership announced on Saturday a historic decision to establish the Xiongan New Area in Hebei province as part of measures to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and aroused intensive responses in the world.

The new area, similar to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New District, is of national significance and “crucial for the millennium to come”, according to an official circular.

The move will help phase out some non-capital functions from Beijing, explore a new model of optimized development in densely-populated areas, and restructure the urban layout in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to the circular.

The move is a “major historic and strategic choice made by the CPC Central Committee with President Xi as the core,” said the circular, which described the decision as “a strategy crucial for a millennium to come.”

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, Xi has inspected the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region many times and presided meetings to investigate and deploy the coordinated development in this region.

A series of directions and spirits from central government have well programmed the positioning, targets, focuses and paths of the coordinated development of this region, and provided theoretical foundations for energizing coordination development in this region and constructing Xiongan New Area.

The coordinated development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is meaningful, and should be upgraded into a national level.

Through non-capital functional dispersal as well as economic and space structural adjustment, we should find a new way to boost coordinated development and form a new growth pole (in this region).

In order to explore an effective way for ecological civilization and harmonious development among population, economy, resources and environment, it is a requirement to realize the coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

“We should be more self-conscious, initiative and creative to promote the coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and be more brave to form new systemic frame and mechanism through comprehensively deepening reform.”

The new area includes Xiongxian, Rongcheng, Anxin counties and their surrounding areas, and is located at the center of the triangular area formed by Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei’s Baoding.

Featuring geological advantages and strong capacity of resources as well as environment, the area has the potential and general conditions to be constructed with high standards.

Highlighting “global vision,” “international standards,” “Chinese characteristics,” “high goals” as key words, the area will develop into a demonstration area for innovative development. Also, priority will be given to ecological development, people’s livelihood, traditional culture, coordinated development and open development.

In detail, the area has seven key tasks including constructing green smart new town, creating beautiful ecological environment, developing high-end industries and cultivating new kinetic energy, providing high quality public services, building convenient and green transportation network, pushing institutional and mechanism reform and motivating market vitality, establishing a new platform for opening up and foreign cooperation.

It is a gigantic task to integrate the development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, whose key strategy lies on how to disperse non-capital functions of Beijing to neighboring areas in a rational manner.

A clear insight and a clear approach to upholding necessary reforms and planning for the long term in advancing Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrated development are required by the central government.

The Xiongan New Area will be an area to pool non-capital functions of Beijing. The construction must seize phasing non-capital functions out of Beijing as the key point. An overall plan should be made and fashionable design concepts be adopted to build the area into a first-class international city.

Meanwhile, by observing laws of city construction, the development of the Xiongan New Area should be conducted reasonably. A coordinated planning and management of the area and its surrounding areas should be strengthened.

The construction should also avoid excessive urban expansion and fuel coordinated development with nearby cities. With the focus on building a new system, reforms in all-round way should be further advanced to let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation and have the government fully display its functions so as to create a favorable environment to attract innovative talents and resources.

The coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region relies on innovation-driven, by forming a coordinated innovative community among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, establishing and perfecting regional innovation system, and integrating innovation resource to bridge development gap, connect industrial chain and regroup regional resources.

According to the directions and spirits from the central government, the planning and construction of Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province and Beijing’s sub-center is aiming to form two new wings of Beijing and expand new space for the regional development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

This requires at the very beginning, Xiongan New Area has to stand on comparative advantage, requirements of modern industrial divisions, principle of regional complementary advantages, and idea of win-win cooperation. It should strengthen its coordinated development with Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Baoding and etc., boost collaboration of industrial connection, promote specialization and cooperation of cities, reinforce cooperation of ecological environmental protection, accelerate comparative advantages of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, and realize dislocation development.

Xiongan needs to plan the overall arrangement of production, life and ecology, give full play to comparative advantages of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, and form new coordinated development pattern of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region with common goals, integrated measures, complementary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win situations. Xiongan must think outside the box and cooperate with other regions to achieve the goal of top-level design.

Source: Information Office of Guangdong Provincial Government of China