On February 26, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of China, chaired a symposium in Beijing to hear reports on the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. He emphasized that achieving coordinated development of the region is a major national strategy, necessary for building a new capital economic circle for the future and for advancing institutional innovation in regional development.

 

　　What issues should be noted in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region? How can win-win and common development be achieved? Yesterday, a reporter from The Beijing News interviewed Li Tie, Director of the China Center for Urban Development under the National Development and Reform Commission. Li Tie believes that the integration of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should break administrative barriers, fully respect market rules, and must not create another "megacity."

 

　　Cities Should Have Division of Labor to Avoid Vicious Competition

 

　　Recently, as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration has risen to a national strategy, it has brought significant benefits to the three provinces and municipalities. Currently, the most reported plan is the "Capital Economic Circle Development Plan," also known as the "1+9+3" plan. How do you evaluate this?

 

　　Li Tie: This is just a plan proposed two years ago. One thing is certain: no matter what the final plan is, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration should break administrative barriers, highlight market-based allocation of various resources, and prevent the formation of another "megacity" through administrative means. That is the real way to solve the development bottleneck of the region. Relevant departments can use the market to ensure that various market factors are balanced in the integration process, preventing excessive concentration in resource redistribution.

 

　　In fact, in the integration process, there is a view of "protecting Beijing," that integration should serve the疏散 of Beijing's population. This is only the current government's consideration. Beijing hosts so many high-quality resources, so it must also host population inflow. Therefore, relying on administrative means to疏散 population and promote integration may have many problems. This represents more the interests of Beijing and ignores the roles of Tianjin and Hebei in integration. Making population疏散 the goal of integration is highly problematic in both the short and long term.

 

　　Q: You mentioned that market principles should be fully respected in the integration process. How can this be achieved?

 

　　Li Tie: Currently, Beijing's industrial structure is dominated by services, Tianjin by industry, and Hebei also by industry, though at a lower level. Integration will involve industrial restructuring. In this adjustment, on one hand, attention should be paid to the complementarity of industrial structures in Tianjin and Hebei to avoid homogeneous competition; on the other hand, in the process of relocating Beijing's services, the service industries of host cities must not become homogeneous. How Beijing's services can radiate outward and adjust Hebei's employment structure should be a major focus of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration.

 

　　Q: What role should relevant national departments play in industrial restructuring?

 

　　Li Tie: Relevant national departments should not dictate what integrated cities should do, but should define what they cannot do. Marketization is the principle; administrative means are only auxiliary. In the integration process, various institutions, service enterprises, and industrial enterprises can freely choose locations, but vicious competition among cities must be avoided. Cities should have a division of labor, and policies should be differentiated.

 

　　Q: Due to the different statuses of cities, some may have weaker voices.

 

　　Li Tie: Yes. That is a common problem. So, as I said earlier, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration must break administrative barriers, and from the national level, resources and market factors should be comprehensively coordinated to avoid such situations.

 

　　Public Service Resources Should Gradually Achieve Interconnection

 

　　Q: Some scholars believe that in the integration process, major central institutions and educational institutions should gradually move out of Beijing.

 

　　Li Tie: This is a matter of stock and increment. Stock refers to various government agencies, public institutions, and educational institutions already in Beijing. Increment refers to newly established institutions. In this regard, we should respect the fact that Beijing's future population growth is inevitable because Beijing has concentrated many high-quality resources. Current policies only aim to slow the population growth rate and provide time and space for infrastructure improvement. Therefore, the focus should be on solving the increment problem: new population, industries, and enterprises should not settle in Beijing, and the growth rate of migrant population should be moderately slowed according to industrial policies and reallocation policies of high-quality resources. This requires both administrative and market adjustments.

 

　　Q: Specifically?

 

　　Li Tie: For example, the government should restrict industrial enterprises, central enterprises, headquarters, and new educational and medical resources from entering Beijing, and restrict various units from adding new staff and institutions in Beijing. However, they can choose to settle in small and medium-sized cities around Beijing and in Tianjin and Hebei.

 

　　The Beijing News: How can we increase the enthusiasm for relocating increment?

 

　　Li Tie: First, the host locations need to reach levels similar to Beijing in transportation and public services. Second, the treatment, household registration, and other issues for incremental institutions need to be the same or similar to Beijing, so that relocated personnel will be more motivated.

 

　　Q: How should this be operated at the implementation level?

 

　　Li Tie: The general idea should be to break the existing closed public service and resource systems of the three provinces and municipalities, and allow them to gradually achieve interconnection, so that transferred population can enjoy the same level of public services and resources as in Beijing.

 

　　Integration Should Emphasize Radiation from Beijing and Tianjin to Hebei

 

　　Q: Compared with the integration of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, what are the similarities and differences with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei?

 

　　Li Tie: In the early development of the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai's industrial radiation and the leadership of state-owned enterprises, along with the opening up of Jiangsu and Zhejiang at the economic strategic level, promoted the growth of local private economies. The Pearl River Delta developed through Hong Kong's foreign trade and service industry, forming a strong order-based industry. Looking back at the development of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, their commonality is strong complementarity. However, the complementarity among Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei is not obvious.

 

　　Q: In what aspects is this mainly reflected?

 

　　Li Tie: Beijing's service industry radiation is mainly within the city, with little driving effect on surrounding cities. Tianjin's industrial radiation is mainly to its subordinate areas, with little driving effect on Hebei. Beijing is a political center, and Tianjin is a port city. Hebei cannot compare with these two cities in terms of advantages, which is one reason for its relatively lagging development. Therefore, in the integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, it is very important to emphasize the radiation function of Beijing and Tianjin to Hebei.

 

　　Q: Some say that because Beijing and Tianjin are much stronger than Hebei in both political and economic status, although integration has been mentioned before, the results have not been obvious.

 

　　Li Tie: This is the drawback of the previous administrative region mindset. Both Beijing and Tianjin want to keep the best resources in their own cities and do not want them to flow out, but this leads to urban management problems. Therefore, integration must break the administrative mindset of "one's own plot." Relevant national departments, as the overall coordinating body, should ensure that transportation and other infrastructure among the three provinces and municipalities are connected and public services are circulated, so as to achieve the integration goal.

 

　　Q: If a timetable were to be designed, when would the integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei take shape?

 

　　Li Tie: It's hard to say in terms of time. I think we can now consider that within 10 years, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration will form a good and effective mechanism. The remaining time should be left to the market for rational allocation, so that through marketization, all cities can develop healthily and orderly.