"China Economic Weekly" reporter Wang Hongru|Report from Beijing

  Time flies so fast, 6 and a half years in a blink of an eye.

On February 26, 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development Symposium and delivered an important speech.

With this as a sign, the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has become a national strategy.

  One year later, in June 2015, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued and implemented the "Outline of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Outline"), five years ago.

According to the "Outline" deployment, the goals of coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are divided into short-term, medium-term and long-term.

The medium-term goal is to control the permanent population of Beijing within 23 million by 2020, and alleviate prominent problems such as Beijing’s “big city disease”; the regional integrated transportation network has basically been formed, the quality of the ecological environment has been effectively improved, and the development of industrial linkage has been achieved. Significant progress: The joint construction and sharing of public services has achieved positive results, the coordinated development mechanism has effectively operated, and the development gap within the region has tended to narrow, and a new situation of coordinated development, mutual benefit and win-win development in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei has initially formed.

  More than half of 2020 has passed. How has the mid-term goal of the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei achieved?

How big is the gap between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta?

How to catch up?

  The main mid-term goals of the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are achieved on schedule

  From the perspective of population and metropolitan diseases, as of the end of 2019, the permanent population of Beijing is 21.536 million, which is lower than the medium-term target and the permanent population of Beijing is controlled within 23 million.

With the easing of non-capital functions, Beijing’s “big city disease” has also been alleviated.

  From the perspective of transportation integration, Hebei Province and Beijing-Tianjin have successively opened up or widened 29 sections of connecting roads including Beijing-Kunming, Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, Beijing-Taiwan, and the capital area ring road, covering 1,774 kilometers. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, all Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei The joint roads of arterial highways have all completed the connection of route plans.

As of the end of 2019, the total mileage of expressways reached 7,476 kilometers, ranking third in the country.

In addition, the "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei on the track" is taking shape. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway, the Zhang-Tang Railway, the Tianjin-Baozhou Intercity Railway, and the Shiji Passenger Railway have been completed and opened to traffic. The total railway mileage exceeds 7,900 kilometers, ranking second in the country.

  From the perspective of the ecological environment, joint construction, prevention and governance has reached a new level.

Among them, Hebei Province vigorously promoted the improvement of the atmospheric environment quality of transmission channel cities. In Langfang, Baoding and other Gyeonggi regions, 11880 square kilometers of “coal prohibited areas” were designated in 20 counties, and scattered coal was “cleared”. There were 8 channel cities and Zhangjiakou, Xiong'an New District is fully included in the pilot area of ​​winter clean heating in the northern region.

  From the perspective of industrial docking and cooperation, as of the end of June this year, Hebei has undertaken a total of 11,727 basic units transferred from Beijing to Tianjin.

Strengthen the division of labor and cooperation with Beijing and Tianjin, create a new type of industrial cluster that complements and supports each other with Beijing and Tianjin, solid advancement in Zhangjiakou Renewable Energy Demonstration Zone, Shijiazhuang High-end Biomedicine Industrial Base, etc., and high-tech industries around the capital The modern service industry is booming.

  "Overall, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei three places jointly promoted the coordinated development work. The medium-term goals have been achieved well, and most of the main indicators involved can be completed on time." Dean of the Institute of Economic and Social Development of Nankai University, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Cooperative Development Member of the Expert Advisory Committee and member of the Academic Committee of Peking University’s Capital High-end Think Tank, Liu Binglian, while affirming the results of the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, also expressed concern to the reporter of China Economic Weekly. “But from the perspective of economic development, Compared with the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, the economic growth of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is obviously at a disadvantage. From a regional perspective, the gap between the North and the South is still relatively large. There is still a certain gap between the development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the expected, and there is a long way to go."

  The gap between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta is still large

  For a long time, the three major regions of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta are the most economically developed regions in the country, and the Yangtze River Delta is one of the best. Driven by the leading city of Shanghai, the main economic indicators have taken the lead in the country. Strength is unmatched.

  The Pearl River Delta is not to be outdone.

Driven by the leading cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, it has quickly become one of the most open and dynamic economic zones in the Asia-Pacific region.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen have high hopes for the rise of world-class cities in the Pearl River Delta.

  The coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is advancing steadily.

Since the coordinated development of the three places, relying on Beijing's strong scientific and technological strength and national policy support, they are moving forward lightly.

  In particular, the "Outline" clearly proposes to build a world-class urban agglomeration with the capital as the core, and the competition between the three major regions has become more intense.

From data analysis, the gap between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta is obvious.

  Professor Liu Binglian systematically compared the development status of the three major regions from 2009 to 2018. The conclusion is: No matter in terms of economic development, transportation infrastructure, industrial development level, technological innovation capability, etc., Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei There is still a certain gap between the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

  From the perspective of economic development, the total GDP and GDP ratio of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are at a disadvantage among the three major regions (see chart).

From the chart, it can be clearly seen that from 2009 to 2018, the total GDP of the three places has shown an upward trend, but the total GDP of the Yangtze River Delta is much higher than that of the Pearl River Delta, and the total GDP of the Pearl River Delta is significantly higher than that of Beijing and Tianjin. Hebei: From 2009 to 2018, the proportion of the three places in the total national GDP is that the contribution rate of the Yangtze River Delta to the national GDP is much higher than that of the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and its leading advantages continue to expand.

Not only that, from the perspective of the percentage of GDP per capita in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the country, in 2014 the per capita GDP of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was 1.28 times the national average, and in 2018, it had dropped to 1.17 times.

  From the perspective of transportation infrastructure, the total mileage of roads and railways in the Yangtze River Delta is 2.2 times that of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei; the throughput of ports and airports in the Yangtze River Delta is 1.8 times that of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and the port throughput is 16 times that of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei; The port and airport throughput is 1.2 times that of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and the port throughput is up to 50 times that of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.

  From the perspective of industrial development level, the industrial structure of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei still needs to be optimized.

The tertiary industry accounted for 42.53% of GDP in the Yangtze River Delta, 42.37% in the Pearl River Delta, and only 35.70% in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The total expenditure for new product development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei high-tech industry was much lower than the other two regions.

  From the analysis of technological innovation capability, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has the highest investment in innovation, but the number of innovation achievements is the lowest, and innovation efficiency is low.

The full-time equivalent of R&D personnel and internal R&D expenditures in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei ranks first among the three places, but the number of innovation achievements in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is at the bottom of the three places, far below the level of innovation achievements in the two places, and the total number of patents only accounts for the Yangtze River Delta Of 26%.

The innovation efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is low and it is in urgent need of improvement.

  "Objectively comparing the development gap between the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta will help promote the speed-up and strategic advancement of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. General Secretary Xi Jinping made a statement on the fifth anniversary of the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region on January 18, 2019. An important instruction, suggesting to roll rocks uphill and climb over hurdles, shows that the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has a long way to go." Liu Binglian said.

  In addition to Tianjin, Tang, Shi and Bao, new economic growth points should also be cultivated

  Apart from other things, just comparing the total GDP of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta in 2019 can also illustrate the gap between the three regions.

  Public data shows that the total GDP of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in 2019 was 846 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%; the Pearl River Delta GDP was 8.69 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%; and the Yangtze River Delta region’s GDP totaled 23.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.4 %.

The total GDP of the Yangtze River Delta region is “one of the best”, which is not comparable to Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Pearl River Delta.

  Faced with the gap, Professor Liu Binglian put forward six policy recommendations for the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration.

  First, speed up economic development and narrow the gap between North and South.

Cultivating potential economic growth poles, in addition to traditional areas such as Tianjin, Tang, Shi, Bao, etc., should also cultivate new economic growth points, such as Xiongan, Cangzhou, Langfang, Wuqing, Linkong Economic Zone, Hebei Free Trade Districts, etc.; make full use of the advantages of Beijing Science and Technology Innovation Center, enhance transformation capabilities, cultivate an active technology trading market, and extend the regional value chain.

"Beijing’s scientific and technological innovation capabilities are very strong, but some scientific and technological achievements have been transferred to the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta in a leapfrog manner. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has not yet formed an innovation chain and an innovation industrial chain. Next, we should make full use of Beijing’s technological innovation advantages to improve Its transformation ability extends the value chain of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region."

  Second, give full play to Beijing's radiating and leading role, and promote the optimization of multi-center spatial structure.

Guided by "one core, two cities, three axes, and four districts", form a spatial layout of urban agglomerations with a clear system, reasonable gradient, continuous structure, and efficient integration; improve the energy level of small and medium-sized cities in the surrounding areas of Beijing and Tianjin, and accelerate the overall balance of the region Development; while accelerating the construction of Tongzhou and Xiong'an, start the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin metropolis as soon as possible; plan to upgrade the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coastal city cluster.

  Third, build the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional innovation system (innovation transaction chain, technology transaction market construction).

There are many universities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Market-oriented incentive policies and related mechanisms for achievement transformation should be strengthened, and a networked ecological construction model should be explored to form continuous innovation capabilities and innovation results.

  Fourth, optimize the industrial coordination and spatial distribution of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Taking advantage of non-capital functions as an opportunity to accelerate the transfer of related industries; pay attention to the coordination of industrial planning, and rationally plan the industrial layout based on the comparative advantages of the three places of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei; orderly promote industrial upgrading and gradient transfer, forming a "multi-center cluster, Multi-axis gradient distribution" spatial layout.

  Fifth, continue to promote the market integration process in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Deepen the institutional reforms among cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, break down the administrative and trade barriers in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, and accelerate the free flow of factors within the urban agglomeration and the development of industrial integration.

  Sixth, strengthen the coordinated governance of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei government and explore the establishment of a Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei benefit-sharing mechanism.

To break the problem of administrative division of three land, one acre and three divided land, we must solve the problem of benefit-sharing mechanism.

The three places have already made some effective explorations in this regard, and a broader benefit coordination mechanism should be formed in the future.

  "With the gradual completion and improvement of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the gap with the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta will certainly be narrowed." Liu Binglian expressed optimistically.