Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region's coordinated development generates new growth driver

The coordinated development in Beijing and neighboring regions is now in full swing and has grown into a new driving force for China's development, nine years after China launched a key strategy to build the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional city cluster.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 10 trillion yuan (about 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, representing a 1.8-fold increase from 2013 at current prices, according to a report released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics on Feb. 20.

This aerial photo taken on March 31, 2022 shows the Xiong'an Railway Station in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

A more rational industrial layout, the more balanced resource distribution and innovation-driven development have not only helped the crowded Chinese capital achieve healthy growth, but also brought benefits to Tianjin and Hebei.

INDUSTRIAL LAYOUT OPTIMIZATION

Beijing Carale Robot Technology Co., Ltd. was established in the Chinese capital in 2014 and moved its factory and R&D center to the neighboring municipality of Tianjin in 2017, with the business flourishing since then.

"All thanks to the policy support from the Tianjin Binhai-Zhongguancun Science Park," the company's CEO Yin Li said. The park, formally established in November 2016 in the Tianjin Binhai New Area, has now become the city's scientific and technological innovation heartland.

The park has not only inherited the innovative spirit of Zhongguancun, the country's first national high-tech industrial development zone, but can also make full use of Tianjin's strong manufacturing base. It was a big move in linking the industrial layout of the two municipalities.

This aerial photo taken on May 12, 2022 shows the Tianjin Binhai-Zhongguancun Science Park in north China's Tianjin. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

Yin's company could enjoy market information and technical resources of high-level universities in Beijing, and at the same time benefit from the strong policy advantages of Tianjin, which resulted in a reduction of the company's operating costs.

The decision also produced other positive outcomes. In 2022, Carale's sales reached more than 20 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 40 percent.

The same story is unfolding in the Xiong'an New Area, Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital.

Hebei Province has welcomed some 44,000 enterprises transferred from Beijing and Tianjin, according to the provincial development and reform commission. This year, Hebei plans to absorb 30 second and third-tier subsidiaries of central enterprises which are scheduled to settle in Xiong'an.