Region leads high-quality economic development

Chengdu and Chongqing municipality are jointly shouldering the responsibility of leading high-quality development in western China based on the booming economy in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.

The economic circle, launched in January 2020, is the fourth national key region after the Yangtze River Delta region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

This year is crucial for the economic circle to transform from fundamental construction into new development.

A total of 160 major projects are expected to be built with a total investment of more than 2 trillion yuan ($281.3 billion) and an annual planned investment of 183.5 billion yuan.

Last year, the GDP of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle exceeded 7 trillion yuan, accounting for 6.5 percent of the country and 30.8 percent of the western region.

The economic circle focuses on key areas such as international comprehensive transportation hubs, world-class advanced manufacturing clusters, western science cities, western financial centers and modern international cities.

Transport hub

Strengthening the construction of transportation infrastructure is a priority for the growth of the economic circle.

Since the opening of the China-made Fuxing bullet trains in December 2020, which reach the speed of 350 kilometers per hour, Chengdu and Chongqing have lessened the commuting time to one hour by the high-speed rail.

The preliminary design of the Chengdu-Chongqing middle line high-speed rail project was recently completed and is one step closer to the full-scale start of construction.

Chengdu and Chongqing are among the first cities in the country to open the China-Europe freight trains, creating a frontier highland for the westward opening-up policy and becoming a key region along the Silk Road Economic Belt.

On Jan 1, 2021, the train services in the two cities were integrated into the China-Europe Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing).

In the first half of this year, the cumulative number of China-Europe trains (Chengdu-Chongqing) exceeded 20,000, covering hundreds of cities in Asia and Europe and accounting for about 40 percent of the cumulative total of China-Europe trains.

“The stable operation of the China-Europe Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing) has effectively driven the growth of industries such as electronics, automobiles and machinery in the western region,” said the relevant person in charge of the management committee of the Chengdu International Railway Port. “The two cities play a key part in driving the economy, trade and industrial development. The transportation advantages will help create an export-oriented industrial cluster in the region.”

While working together to build the China-Europe Railway Express (Chengdu-Chongqing) brand, Chengdu and Chongqing also strive to deepen the joint construction of a new land-sea corridor in the western area.

In December 2021, the China-Laos Railway (Chengdu-Vientiane and Chongqing-Vientiane) international freight trains departed from Chengdu and Chongqing, opening up a more convenient railway channel for the export of products from the two places to Southeast Asia. The railway also expanded the connection between the southwest region and Indochina Peninsula.

 In terms of aviation, Chengdu has joined hands with Chongqing to build a world-class airport cluster.

As the largest civil transport airport planned and constructed during China’s 13 Five-Year Plan (2016-20), Chengdu Tianfu International Airport recorded a passenger throughput of more than 10 million on the first anniversary of its operation in June this year.

“The Tianfu airport plays a key role in promoting the Chengdu-Chongqing world-class airport cluster and building the fourth pole of aviation,” said Cao Yunchun, professor at Civil Aviation University of China and the founder of China’s airport economic theory. “This is reflected in the agglomeration of global resources, and the coordinated and integrated development of industries as well as the industrial and the supply chains.”

World-class industrial clusters

Building a modern industrial system is the key to the twin-city economic circle. Strengthening industrial cooperation is a top priority.

For more than two years, Chengdu and Chongqing have reached a package of cooperation agreements focusing on industrial cooperation and the common advantageous industries of both sides.

Automobile is an important pillar industry in Chengdu and Chongqing. There are a total of 45 automobile enterprises and more than 1,600 auto parts enterprises in the two cities. The industries are highly complementary and each has its own advantages.

To jointly cultivate a world-class automobile industry cluster, the two cities have implemented the cooperation agreements, promoted exchanges on the procurement demand of enterprises’ components and carried out online and offline supply and demand matchmaking events.

The latest data show that 130 components companies in Chengdu and Chongqing have integrated into each other’s complete vehicle packages.

For example, Jetta models, the urban multipurpose off-road vehicles produced by FAW-Volkswagen’s Chengdu branch every year, feature more than 10 kinds of parts such as sunroofs and pedals manufactured by Chongqing enterprises. The Chengdu-based companies including Xiling Power Science and Technology are also participating in Chongqing’s vehicle production.

The two cities are also jointly building the Chengdu-Chongqing Hydrogen Corridor, a plan officially launched on Nov 30, 2021, to help achieve the “dual carbon” goal, promote the transformation and upgrading of the automobile industry and boost high-quality coordinated development.

As of May this year, a total of 530 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been put into operation in Chengdu and Chongqing, and 15 hydrogen refueling stations have been built. 

The two places have formed a full hydrogen energy industry chain and gathered more than 200 upstream and downstream enterprises and scientific research institutes.

In the next step, the Chengdu-Chongqing region will put into use a group of 400 hydrogen fuel logistics vehicles in the hydrogen corridor within two years and about 1,000 hydrogen fuel logistics vehicles by 2025.

The industrial collaboration between the two cities is expanding into larger areas. Sichuan Tianfu New Area and Chongqing Liangjiang New Area have jointly established eight industry alliances including automobiles, electronic information, technological innovation, cultural creativity and exhibition, modern finance, digital economy, headquarters economy, and biomedicine. The pair of new areas will work together to build world-class industrial clusters.

Key public services

The two cities will join hands to build a modern international city and provide more convenient public services for local residents.

A resident surnamed Zhang from Chongqing obtained the business license of his company registered in Chongqing at the window of the Sichuan-Chongqing general office of the administrative examination and approval bureau of Tianfu New Area.

“I registered a company in Chongqing and I came to Chengdu on a business trip,” Zhang said. “I never expected that I could get the business license in Chengdu. The service not only saves me the travel expenses, but also time.”

The convenience Zhang enjoys is one of the achievements of the construction in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.

According to an official in charge of the Tianfu New Area bureau, Sichuan and Chongqing successively issued three batches of 311 Sichuan-Chongqing general office items through June, providing enterprises and the masses in the two places with more efficient government services.

In the first half of the year, the bureau has handled 2,800 Sichuan-Chongqing general office matters.

In terms of promoting the standardization and facilitation of basic public services, Chengdu has realized the inquiries into mobile personnel files, convenient certification of pensions, work-related injury benefits and barrier-free transfer of unemployment insurance.

The comparison of loan policy differences shows that there is no difference in the threshold and ratio of reimbursement for hospitalization in Chongqing for insured persons in Chengdu.

From January to June, the number of direct settlements and the cross-province medical insurance payments for insured people in Chengdu and Chongqing have doubled.

In the field of education, the Chengdu-Chongqing region launched the “one-stop service” for children.

By the end of June, the Chengdu compulsory education enrollment and service platform had completed the review of about 85,000 applications. In the medical sector, the area promotes the mutual recognition of 16 clinical tests and 41 medical imaging tests in tertiary hospitals.