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Boosting high-quality development of Yangtze River Economic Belt

Author  :  WU NAN     Source  :    Chinese Social Sciences Today     2021-11-27

NANTONG—The 6th Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) Development Forum was convened in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, on November 13, under the theme of the YREB’s High-Quality Development Towards Modernization.

“The Report on the Coordinated and Balanced Development Index of the YREB 2020” and the “Research Report on the Coordination and Optimization of Industries in the YREB amid Multiple National Strategies” were released at the forum.

In terms of the overall index of coordinated and balanced development, large differences exist among the different regions along the YREB, according to the “Report on the Coordinated and Balanced Development Index of the YREB 2020.”

To be more specific, cities in the lower reaches, especially the Yangtze River Delta region, perform well. Except for a few provincial capitals such as Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang, the overall coordinated and balanced development index scores of most cities in the middle reaches are not ideal. In the upper reaches, except for Chongqing and Chengdu, most cities have a low score.

According to the “Research Report on the Coordination and Optimization of Industries in the YREB amid Multiple National Strategies,” however, domestic and international investment has relatively shifted from parts of the Yangtze River’s lower reaches to parts of the upper and middle reaches. The shift of industrial resources to the YREB’s middle and upper reaches has become increasingly apparent.

Cheng Changchun, director of the Jiangsu Yangtze River Economic Belt Research Institute at Nantong University, said that a priority of the YREB’s high-quality, coordinated, and balanced development is cross-regional coordination and cooperation. It is necessary to promote cooperation and complementarity between the government and the market, and promote the flow of population from relatively underdeveloped areas to developed areas and funds from developed areas to relatively underdeveloped areas.

“The implementation of the YREB strategy requires both the trade-off of accelerating development and the coordination of related regions,” said Fan Hengshan, former deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The YREB is a strategically superimposed region, involving the Yangtze River Delta region, the integrated development and the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, and the planning of the development of urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Fan explained.

Regional cultural support is also important for propelling the YREB’s development. It is necessary to carry out an in-depth study of the cultural facet of the Yangtze River, and explore and cultivate the ecological culture of the Yangtze River.

Since 2016, eleven provinces and municipalities along the Yangtze River have worked hard to improve the ecological environment and promote a comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. The YREB’s development has seen achievements and shown some new development trends.

The YREB, as a main leader of China’s high-quality economic growth, should actively explore the rule system of the market economy in the new era, said Jin Bei, a Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Hong Yinxing, an economist, said that to promote the YREB’s development in the new development stage, it is necessary to grasp its modernization development goals, which is to say parts of the YREB will take the lead in basically realizing modernization.

The YREB and the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative are very closely related, said Chen Wenling, chief economist of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. For example, Yunnan in the upper reaches is not only an important province along the B&R, but also the starting point of the China-Laos Economic Corridor and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. The YREB and the B&R have formed strategic advantages of mutual support, connection, and integration. To promote the YREB’s high-quality development, it is necessary to more closely integrate the B&R and accelerate the construction of a modern circulation system, especially the smooth modern logistics system of the entire YREB.

Editor: Yu Hui

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