Xi is the only one How can a national central city with a GDP of less than $ 1trillion break through?

The 28th executive meeting of the Shaanxi Provincial Government recentlyadopted the "Opinions on Supporting Xi'an's Construction of a NationalCentral City". Although this document has not been formally released,Shaanxi's determination to support Xi has already appeared.

At present, provinces across the country have generally adopted the strategy ofstrengthening the province, highlighting the leading role of centralcities. Xi is the capital of Shaanxi Province, but it is also the onlycentral city in the country with an economic aggregate of less than 1 trillionyuan. Its strength and strategic position are not commensurate. Howshould Xi break through in the competition of strong provinces?

Xi build large cities

as a city with a long history, Xi always wanted to restore its historicalglory. This is not only the dream of Xi people, but also the vision ofShaanxi. Therefore, Shaanxi has been actively supporting the developmentof Xi for a long time, especially in recent years, supporting Xi has becomeShaanxi's policy orientation.

In 2012, the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Governmentissued "Several Opinions on Provincial and Municipal Co-construction ofGreater Xi'an to Accelerate the Construction of Innovative Regions",calling for further acceleration of the construction of the large Xi'an,leading the Guanzhong, leading the Northwest, and building innovativeregions. Strive for five years of development, Xi's competitiveness insimilar cities in the country will be significantly improved.

The big Xi district here includes Xi administrative district, Xianyang urbanarea and Xi'an new district. The planned total construction area is 800square kilometers and radiates to other county-level administrative areas inXianyang. The initial goal is to strive to reach 1.5 trillion yuan in2017, with an average annual growth rate of more than 13%.

Shaanxi Province has adopted a series of policies and measures to thisend. For example, the above comments suggest that from 2012 to 2017,Shaanxi Province will directly support Daxi's construction of more than 12billion yuan. In addition, the Xi and Xianyang municipal governments andthe Xi New District Management Committee will focus on advantageous resources,implement major projects, and jointly promote the construction of the large Xi.

However, from 2012 to 2016, Xi's city ranking did not significantly improve,and its influence in urban competition was not shown. In 2017, ShaanxiProvince made another major decision to include Xi'an in Xi'an's managementscope, which played an important role in improving the city's energylevel. Wang Yongkang, then Secretary of the Xi Municipal Party Committee,called 2017 "the first year of the great Xi."

Since then, Xi has ushered in an important moment, with rapid economic growthand being approved as a national center city. In 2018, the total value ofXi's safety production was 834.986 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2% over theprevious year. This growth rate ranks first among sub-provincialcities. Although the "accident" caused by the merger of Jinanand Laiwu caused Jinan to rank 21st overall, it is close to Xi'an's highestachievement in history.

However, when singing so fast, it is still difficult to hide an awkward fact. Xiis the only central city in 9 countries with a total economic volume of lessthan 1 trillion yuan, and there is a significant gap with the surroundingcentral cities. Therefore, Xi An has determined the position of pursuitand transcendence, and has been seeking to become bigger and stronger.

At the beginning of 2019, Xi'an released the "Implementation Plan for theConstruction of Xi'an National Central City", which proposed that by 2020,the registered population will exceed 12 million, the permanent population willexceed 15 million, and the total economic volume will reach one trillion.Volume ranking will rise to midstream.

At the same time, Xi also won the support of all parties, especially theresources of Shaanxi Province. For example, in May 2019, the Xi CityDevelopment and Reform Commission organized a special conference on obtainingprovincial support for the construction of Xi's national center city, andstudied relevant policies for obtaining provincial support for the constructionof national center city. The meeting discussed issues requiring provincialsupport for collection.

As a competitive city of Xi, Zhengzhou is already at the forefront. InJuly 2019, the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Governmentissued "Several Opinions on Supporting Zhengzhou to Build a NationalCentral City", and proposed to build Zhengzhou into a strategic platformfor Henan to participate in global competition and gather high-end resources,forming a core growth pole in Henan. Lead and drive the high-qualitydevelopment of the Central Plains urban agglomeration and the central region.

In this document, Henan Province positions Zhengzhou as "three centers, ahub, and a portal". That is,

to build a national central city, an important gateway for thecountry, we must first increase the strength of Xi. How to make Xibigger? One idea was to merge Xi and Xianyang. This extensive growthmethod has been tried and tested in the strategy of strengthening theprovince. For example, Hefei, the provincial capital of Chaohu, Anhui, andthe merger of Jinan, Shandong and Laiwu, are successful cases, which havegreatly improved the energy level of provincial capitals.

From a practical perspective, the GDP of Xi and Xianyang in 2018 were 834.986billion yuan and 237.645 billion yuan, respectively. If merged, Xi willhave a trillion-scale scale and may be promoted to around five places in theGDP ranking of cities across the country, surpassing major competitors such asZhengzhou and close to cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu and Wuhan.

However, unlike other cities that have implemented strong province strategies,Xi has a high priority in Shaanxi, and various indicators account for a largeproportion of the province. In 2018, Xi's GDP accounted for 34.2% of Shaanxi,with a population of more than 10 million, reaching 10.37 million, accountingfor 26.15% of the province's population.

Yao Chen, vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Regional EconomicAssociation, told First Financial reporter that Xi's large-scale expansionthrough administrative measures such as county withdrawal, district withdrawal,and city withdrawal is not appropriate. Agglomeration can form economiesof scale, but overscale can lead to diseconomies of scale.

2019 is the first year of the metropolitan area. The National Developmentand Reform Commission issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Cultivation andDevelopment of a Modern Metropolitan Area", which proposes to promote theintegration of central cities and surrounding cities (towns) as a direction tocultivate a number of modern metropolitan areas and form new regionalcompetitive advantages.

Urban integration is a new method to expand and strengthen metropolitan areasand improve urban competitiveness without involving administrative divisions.

On December 12, 2019, the party and government delegation of Xianyang City wentto Xi to study. Wang Hao said at the symposium that the two cities shouldlearn from the good practices and experience of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrationand the development of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration to jointlycarry out a new round of land and space planning adjustments, coordinateindustrial layout, ecological construction and public services to achieveOrganic integration and dislocation development.

Wang Hao said that Xi and Xianyang should accelerate the interconnection oftransportation facilities and build a comprehensive, efficient and convenienttransportation network. Xi will fully support the development of Xianyang,strengthen cooperation in subway construction, highway and bus connection, andjointly promote the high-quality development of the two cities.

Not only that, Xi needs more intrinsic growth. At the Tenth PlenarySession of the 13th CPC Xi Committee, Wang Hao emphasized that ten key tasksshould be taken as the first breakthrough to promote comprehensive work andaccelerate the development of Xi's innovation, green, and quality.

Wang Hao emphasized that it is necessary to accurately grasp the connotationand core functions of the national central city, closely focus on the strategicpositioning and mission of Xi'an, fully understand the phase characteristicsand opportunities of Xi'an development, and unswervingly implement the newdevelopment concept. Innovation is the first driving force, coordination is theinherent requirement, green is the clear background, openness is the only way,sharing is the fundamental purpose, and we are working hard to build animportant economic center. The western foreign transportation center, theSilk Road Science Center, the Silk Road Cultural Highlands, the inland openhighlands, and the national comprehensive transportation hub will acceleratethe construction of an international metropolis with historical and culturalcharacteristics.

(Original title: Xi, the only national central city with a GDP below 1trillion, how did Xi break through?)