The Coordinated Development of Beijing, Tianjin and the Hebei Province

Important thoughts and strategic arrangements put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing in February 2014. The coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is proposed starting from the perspective of national development, highlighting complementary advantages and coordinated development, which aims to not only solving the bottlenecks facing Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei in the process of their developments, but also solving common problems of development and ecology in the region, thus setting an example for tackling common problems facing large cities, eliminating regional development barriers and building a modern city. China's economic development has gone through a process of exploration from “regional competition” to “regional coordination”.

In 1981, the Beijing-Tianjin Rim Economic Cooperation Region was established; in 1986, the Joint Committee of Mayors of 15 Cities in the Bohai Rim Region was established; in 1995, the “Bohai Rim Strategy” was proposed in the National “Ninth Five-Year Plan”; in 2004, the Department of Regional Economy, NDRC called up the directors of the development and reform commissions of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province and 11 cities, and reached the “Langfang Consensus”; in 2010, the national “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” clearly put forward to list the “Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Regional Integration” and the construction of the “Capital Economic Circle” as a national-level regional development strategy. At the 2014 Central Economic Work Conference, “Coordinated Development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region” and “Belt and Road Initiative” and “Yangtze River Economic Belt” became three major regional development strategies in China. On April 30, 2015, the Meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee reviewed and approved the “Plan for the Coordinated Development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region”, which clarified the guiding ideology, basic principles, development goals, functional positioning, spatial layout, key areas and major measures of the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, providing a basic framework and an action plan for promoting the regional coordinated development. The core of promoting the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is to orderly relocate all functions non-essential to Beijing’s role as the nation’s capital. For this regard, breakthroughs shall be made in such key areas as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei transportation integration, eco-environmental protection, and industrial upgrading and transfer. In order to better promote the linkage of the three places, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will gradually realize “one map” planning, “one game of chess” construction, and “integrated” development. In 2016, China’s first inter-provincial Five-Year Plan—the “National Economic and Social Development Plan for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region during the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” was released and implemented. 12 special plans for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in areas of transportation, ecology and industry, etc., were issued one after another. Under the strategic planning and strong impulse of the Party Central Committee, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been undergoing historic changes. A number of major projects in the three areas of transportation integration, eco-environmental protection, and industrial upgrading and transfer have been implemented, and the regional air pollution prevention and control mechanism has been continuously improved.

The construction of the Beijing Science and Technology Innovation Center was accelerated, the comprehensive innovation reform experiment in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was carried out in an orderly manner, and the co-construction and sharing of public services made positive progress. Hebei Xiong’an New District was officially established, the planning and construction of Beijing’s urban sub-center was accelerated, and Beijing’s functions non-essential to Beijing’s role as the nation’s capital was orderly relocated. The Report to the 19th CPC National Congress clearly pointed out that the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region shall be promoted by relocating Beijing’s functions non-essential to Beijing’s role as the nation’s capital, and Xiong'an New District shall be planned with a high starting point and constructed up to high standards. This will facilitate in-depth implementation of the coordinated development strategy for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.