President Xi pushes integration of the Jing-Jin-Ji region
June 30, 2014 Category Macro-economy, Weekly
Every Chinese administration since Deng Xiaoping’s has taken on an ambitious economic project that defines its legacy. For President Xi Jinping, that project is to link 130 million people across Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province into a single megalopolis, the so-called Jing-Jin-Ji region. Compared to the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, the northern Bohai Bay cluster lags in the development of private enterprises, lacks their cohesive industrial base, and is less open to the outside world. In 2012, exports accounted for 15% of its gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 60% in the Yangtze River Delta and 63% in the Pearl River Delta. Vice Minister of Finance Wang Bao’an has said the new metropolis would require an investment of CNY42 trillion. The industrial base in the Pearl River Delta took shape in the 1980s after Deng’s move to turn Shenzhen, Xiamen and Zhuhai into special economic zones. A decade later, the administration of Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji pushed forward the industrialization of the Yangtze River Delta by designating Shanghai’s Pudong area as the financial hub of the nation. The fourth generation of leaders, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, turned their focus to underdeveloped areas, and sought to address income disparity with their “Go West” and “Develop Central China” campaigns. President Xi Jinping’s plan to integrate Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei would test the leadership’s determination to break down barriers of vested interests groups, according to Shen Jianguang, Chief China Economist with Mizuho Securities. The region’s gross domestic product (GDP) was USD1 trillion last year, similar to South Korea’s, and the 15th highest in the world. But wealth is spread unevenly: the per-capita GDP of Beijing is USD15,000, while Tianjin’s is USD11,500 and Hebei’s only USD6,300.
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