Promote Integrated, High-Quality Development of the Yangtze River Delta

Promote Integrated, High-Quality Development of the Yangtze River Delta*

August 20, 2020

We should fully recognize the position and role of the Yangtze River Delta in our country’s economic and social development. Given the new situation and new requirements for integrated development in this region, we need to be both goal- and problem-oriented, and do hard and solid work on key tasks to achieve concrete results in the Delta.

Since the launch of the strategy for promoting integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta more than a year ago, people in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces and Shanghai Municipality – regions which make up the Delta – together with those of the competent government departments, have worked hard to implement the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and secured remarkable results.

First, you have gained a good understanding of the strategy of the CPC Central Committee and pursued the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta as a part of the overall national strategy for regional development. You are clear about the region’s strategic position as a vibrant growth pole for the country, and you are striving to turn it into a model of high-quality development, a pioneer area in realizing basic modernization, a demonstration area for integrated regional development, and a new pacesetter of reform and opening up.

Second, you have adopted innovative approaches and made breakthroughs in key sectors and areas to accelerate integrated development of the Delta.

Third, you have achieved preliminary results in implementing the strategy. Key pillars of the planned policy framework have been put into place, and the multi-tiered work mechanism has started to function. Both the integration mechanism and interconnected infrastructure have played their roles in Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control as well as in reopening the economy.

In general, a new dynamic driving the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta is taking shape. This shows the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee are sound and they are being rigorously implemented.

To further the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in the face of significant and complex challenges, people must be clear about the position and role of the Delta in China’s economic and social development.

First, the region should be the first to form a new development dynamic. As the global market is shrinking, we should concentrate our efforts on running our own affairs well. China is a massive market; we should lose no time in creating a double development dynamic with the domestic economy as the mainstay and the domestic economy and international engagement providing mutual reinforcement. The region should leverage its strengths, such as a wealth of talent, advanced science and technology, an advanced manufacturing industry, largely complete industrial and supply chains, and huge market potential, and explore ways to create a new development dynamic.

Second, the region should become a trailblazer in promoting innovative development in China’s science, technology and industry. As a new revolution in science, technology and industry gathers pace, China urgently needs to boost its capacity for scientific and technological innovation. Shanghai and the other parts of the region should not only produce quality products, but also become a source of advanced technologies to support high-quality development of the whole country.

Third, the region should move faster to make itself a pacesetter of reform and opening up. In recent years, economic globalization has encountered headwinds. The more this is the case, the harder we should work to promote and spearhead economic globalization, and build a global community of shared future. The Yangtze River Delta has always been at the forefront of China’s reform and opening up. It should improve its business environment by following world-class standards and attract talent and companies from home and abroad with an open, efficient, innovative and enabling environment. It should promote trade and investment facilitation, and become an important bridge between the international and domestic markets.

Integration and high quality are two pillars underpinning the development strategy of the Delta. An integrated approach should be taken to break local administrative barriers, strengthen policy coordination, and enable the smooth flow of production factors in more sectors. This will raise the comparative advantages of various areas of the region, ensure a well-balanced division of labor, and pool more resources to form a stronger synergy. And this will enable the region to achieve high-quality development.

First, you should promote high-quality economic development in the Yangtze River Delta. You in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai should implement the policies of the CPC Central Committee while carrying out regular epidemic prevention and control. And you should lead the country in stabilizing the Six Fronts – employment, finance, foreign trade, inbound investment, domestic investment, and market expectations. You should also lead the country in guaranteeing the Six Priorities – jobs, daily living needs, food and energy security, industrial and supply chains, the operation of market players, and the smooth functioning of grassroots government. You should ensure that various support measures cover all those working on the ground and directly benefit market players, while financial capital should support manufacturing and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises on a priority basis. You should fully leverage the strengths of the digital economy, speed up industrial transformation enabled by digital and smart technology, and improve the stable performance and competitiveness of industrial and supply chains. You should accelerate the construction of major projects and release potential effective demand for investment.

Second, you should step up scientific and technological research. You must keep yourselves well positioned in innovation and development. You in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai should pool your strengths in science and technology and focus on key areas and major fields including integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, so as to achieve early breakthroughs. Micro, small and medium-sized technology companies should be able to get the support they need to grow themselves.

Third, you should boost quality development of cities in the Yangtze River Delta. Built and developed many years ago, many cities and towns in the region have old districts and face a pressing need for urban renewal. This involves the vital interests of the general public and is important for long-term urban development. No matter how difficult the problem is, you must find a solution to it. But you must not simply engage in large-scale demolition and construction. You should protect urban history, culture and landscapes, and avoid constructing faceless buildings and cities. You should resolutely stop speculation in real estate under the name of urban renewal. You should firmly implement the principle that houses are for living in and not for speculative investment, and put in place a long-term mechanism to ensure steady and sound development of the real estate market.

Fourth, you should speed up high-quality development of underdeveloped regions. An important goal of integration is to address imbalanced development between different regions. Gaps in development also mean potential for development. The competent government departments should take more targeted measures for underdeveloped regions to help them keep pace with the Yangtze River Delta in pursuing integrated, high-quality development. As a Chinese saying goes, “The sea is vast because it embraces many rivers.” Gaps do exist in economic and natural conditions between different regions, such as those between cities and villages, between plains and mountains, and between industrial areas and eco-environmental protection areas. You should not address these gaps in a simplistic or inflexible way. To solve imbalanced development, you should follow economic and objective laws, tailor measures to local conditions, provide differentiated guidance, see differences for what they are, and avoid applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

Fifth, you should advance the high-standard reform and opening up of Pudong. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Pudong’s reform and opening up. You should support Pudong’s pioneering reform of its system to improve coordination and performance, promote its high-standard institutional opening up and its ability to allocate its resources globally, and upgrade its modern urban governance. Try out new things in these fields and create new experience. This is of strategic significance to Shanghai, to the integrated, high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta, and to socialist modernization in China. The newly launched Lingang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone should be run well, and it should play its full role as a trailblazer of reform. Shanghai will be further developed as an international financial center to support the high-quality economic development of the Yangtze River Delta and the rest of China.

Sixth, you should consolidate the foundations for the green development of the Yangtze River Delta. As the flagship of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Delta should take the lead in both economic development and eco-environmental protection. Priority should be given to the protection and restoration of the eco-environment of the Yangtze River, and measures must be taken to resolve serious environmental problems such as the treatment of urban sewage and garbage, chemical pollution, agricultural non-point source pollution, pollution from ships and tailings ponds. Urban and rural organic waste should be better treated and utilized in areas around the Taihu Lake, and a full range of supporting measures should be taken to set an example for eco-environmental protection through the treatment and utilization of organic waste in both the Yangtze River Delta and the rest of China.

The Yangtze River fishing ban is important to the whole country and future generations. Provinces and cities along the river and the competent government departments should strengthen overall planning and coordination, refine policies and measures, specify responsibilities for all those involved, and ensure the livelihoods of former fishermen. You should strengthen law enforcement and supervision, take firm action on illegal fishing, and see that the fishing ban is rigorously enforced.

Seventh, you should expand basic public services in the region. In the course of pursuing regional integration, you should work for the benefit of the people of the region, solve their problems, and guarantee their livelihoods. You in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai should make the best use of experience drawn from the Covid-19 response, take advantage of the Yangtze River Delta cooperation mechanism to establish an emergency response system that manages public health and other emergencies, and keep a good stock of medical supplies. You should plan and implement a phased policy of basic medical insurance, and unify the drug catalogue, diagnosis and treatment, and standards of medical facilities. A social security card should be issued to residents in the region to access all public services, and there should be equal access to transport, tourist attractions, and cultural activities across the region. You should also shore up weak links in grassroots governance and strengthen capacity to resist natural disasters.

Efforts should be made to reinforce the Party’s ability and resolve to steer the course, make overall plans, devise policies, and promote reform, so as to provide a strong political guarantee for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. In the course of implementing the integrated development strategy, you need to identify and cultivate the best talent and give them opportunities to shine. Political commitment and integrity must be the primary criteria for selecting officials to ensure they are trustworthy and reliable. You should improve the management of officials to ensure the capable are promoted, the excellent rewarded, the mediocre demoted, and the incompetent dismissed.

An official-rotating mechanism commensurate with the integrated development of the region should be established. Standards and procedures in Party organizations in all enterprises should be improved to give play to their supporting roles in decision-making, market development, technological innovation, and improving performance. This will enable Party organizations to use their political and organizational strengths to help business grow. You should recruit more Party members from non-public economic entities, train them and manage them well, and guide them to play an exemplary role as pacesetters.

The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta cannot be achieved overnight. People should remain patient and think long term, and also act with a sense of urgency. The leading group should steer the course and ensure that the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee are fully implemented. All of you in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai and in the competent government departments should shoulder your responsibilities, move proactively and make bold breakthroughs in accordance with the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee. You should make implementation plans for pursuing integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta during the 14th Five-year Plan period (2021-2025), and continue to deliver fruitful outcomes.

* Major points of the speech at a forum on advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)