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The Yangtze River Delta in east China would have developed much faster if the current regional division had been removed. This is a common view among many deputies to the 10th National People's Congress and members of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The delta, embracing Shanghai Municipality, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, contributes to 22.1 percent of the country's GDP, 24.5 percent of national revenue and 28.5 percent of the total foreign trade, although the area has only 2.2 percent of the country's land area and 10.4 percent of the total population.
However, the administrative division has segmented the delta and therefore restricted the development of the region as a whole. An example is the choice of pillar industries by different cities. There are 15 cities in this region and 11 have chosen vehicle parts as their pillar industries, eight have chosen petrochemical industry and 12 have opted for telecommunications industry, leading to serious overlapping in construction.
In addition, some trans-regional enterprises are subject to different administrative charges, and water and power supply and roads in the regions are also segmented.
Chen Derong, mayor of Jiaxing City, said that the Yangtze River Delta has widely been acknowledged as the world's sixth largest metropolitan area and one of the regions with the most vigorous development, and the total GDP in this region has reached the level of a standard international economic center.
"The movement of production factors among different cities is seriously impeded by administrative segmentation," he said.
Xi Jinping, secretary of the Zhejiang provincial CPC committee, said that economic integration of the Yangtze River Delta will sharpen the region's competitive edge, but without proper regional planning, there will be overlapping project construction.
"All divisions and restrictions should be removed to promote regional economic integration," he said.
The mayor of Zhenjiang City, Shi Heping, said that in an area of less than 100,000 square kilometers, more than half of the economically developed counties of the country are concentrated and there are nearly 100 industrial parks, each with an industrial output value of more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) and nearly 1,000 giant enterprises. The cluster of cities has caught worldwide attention.
Xi proposed across-the-board cooperation among Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu that will cover infrastructure, division of labor in industry, tourism resources development and opening up of the market, environmental protection, science and technology, information, education and personnel.
(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2003)
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