Plans on for big city cluster with capital at core

China is considering building a global city cluster in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region — and more steps to further promote the coordinated development of the region are in the offing, according to the country's top economic regulator.

Guo Lanfeng, a member of the CPC Leadership Group of the National Development and Reform Commission, pledged further steps to promote high-quality development in the region's key areas, in a bid to create a world-class city cluster with Beijing as the core.

"We will formulate and introduce policy measures to support the high-quality development of Tianjin's Binhai New Area, continue to do a good job in the coordinated high-quality development of (Beijing's sub-center in) Tongzhou district and neighboring Sanhe city, Xianghe county and Dachang Hui autonomous county in Hebei province," he said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"We will also leverage the leading role of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in driving the development of surrounding areas such as Shandong province, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Shanxi province."

The focus will also be placed on relocating some non-essential industries from Beijing that are not commensurate with the city's role as the national capital, promoting the high-quality development of Beijing's sub-center in Tongzhou and Xiong'an New Area in Hebei and advancing coordination on rules in key areas, Guo said.

The region needs to take a step forward in terms of accelerating the removal of barriers to the free flow and optimal allocation of production factors. More efforts will be made to integrate the industrial chain and supply chain to promote more scientific research and institutional cooperation in open platforms such as free trade zones, to jointly align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, he said.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the implementation of the strategy for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development. During the past few years, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has witnessed rapid development in regional economic integration.

The combined GDP of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region reached 10.4 trillion yuan ($1.44 trillion) in 2023,1.9 times that of 2013, offering the latest proof of China's coordinated high-quality development at regional level, data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics showed.

Xia Linmao, executive vice-mayor of Beijing, said Beijing will continue to promote the high-quality development of its sub-center in Tongzhou, with focus on handling the relationship with Xiong'an New Area, Beijing's central urban area, and its surrounding areas.

Looking ahead, Beijing's sub-center will continue to maintain an annual investment intensity of more than 100 billion yuan, he said.

During the news conference, Liu Guiping, executive vice-mayor of Tianjin, highlighted the importance of pursuing coordinated development between Beijing and Tianjin by further widening and deepening cooperation. More efforts will be made to boost scientific and technological innovation, and deepen cooperation in fields like infrastructure, public services, social governance and environmental protection.