On April 28, Premier Li Keqiang chaired a symposium in Chongqing to study building the Yangtze River Economic Belt on the golden waterway, providing important support for China's sustained economic development. A few days earlier, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee met to study economic work and called for "continuing to support the large-scale development of the western region and the full revitalization of old industrial bases such as the northeast, and promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt."

 

　　Since reform and opening up, proposals for opening and developing the golden waterway along the Yangtze have emerged one after another. Many people say that if coastal opening is regarded as the bow of China's economic development, then the opening and development of the Yangtze River Basin is a sharp arrow. Now the concept of the "Yangtze River Economic Belt" has taken shape, and the state has formally elevated its construction to a national strategy. Some even assert that the Yangtze River Economic Belt will become China's second economic belt after the coastal economic belt and will surely become the second pole of China's economic growth.

 

　　The Yangtze River Economic Belt now being planned covers 11 provinces and municipalities along the river, accounting for 18 percent of the national land area, 36 percent of the population and about 37 percent of GDP. If truly coordinated opening and development can be achieved within the region, the 11 provinces and municipalities along the river will become live pieces on a single chessboard spanning the whole basin, staging a grand drama of opening and development. For the various provinces and municipalities, this is truly a major boon.

 

　　Building the Yangtze River Economic Belt has certainly become a national strategy, but many people still cannot see why a Yangtze River Economic Belt should be built. At different stages of regional development competition, various concepts take turns on stage, and people regard this as commonplace. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is certainly not concept hype; what its connotation is and how to build it require serious study and thorough planning. A clear connotation will enable all localities to act promptly and prevent people from falling into speculation and doubt.

 

　　What strings the 11 provinces and municipalities along the river into a long belt is the golden waterway, which means cheap transport capacity and also a low-cost competitive advantage. On this basis, duty-free processing, processing trade and the logistics industry can be vigorously developed. Does this mean that the Yangtze River Economic Belt has such prospects and no more? The Yangtze River Basin has vast territory and abundant labor resources, and developing the above industries is naturally correct. We can certainly take this as the direction of our efforts, but there is absolutely no need to define it as the model of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The goal of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is development, and development needs support, but the state will not impose restrictions on how it develops.

 

　　One thing is certain: the Yangtze River Economic Belt must explore and find its own strengths and advantages. Looking back from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the tariff revenues of the Shanghai and Hankou customs long ranked first and second in China, precisely because the Yangtze River Basin, as the hinterland of the two customs, produced large quantities of local specialties that were continuously shipped around the world. Today, if processing trade in the Yangtze River Economic Belt becomes developed, that is naturally a great thing, but it may be far from enough. It may be an advantage of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, but judging from historical and current conditions, it no longer has much distinctive character.

 

　　Today, no local specialty can any longer count as a distinctive feature; true distinctiveness can only come from innovation. Building the Yangtze River Economic Belt coincides with China's comprehensive deepening of reform, and the theme of the reform era gives people unlimited room for imagination. Since the state has elevated the Yangtze River Economic Belt to a national strategy, it should grant the region corresponding opening and development policies, but rather than being a "preferential policy" or "policy tilt" in the old sense, it will mainly depend on our determination and intensity in deepening reform.

 

　　Making the Yangtze River Economic Belt truly an arrow shot by China toward the world should be called a major development proposition put forward by the state. It requires central ministries, local governments, the economics community and the business community to work together to solve it, so that it quickly becomes an economic-geographical phenomenon rather than merely an economic-geographical concept.