Text丨 Western Jun
Following the symposium on promoting the rise of the central region held in Changsha last month, another major conference on regional development was held in Chongqing.
On 23 April, a forum on promoting the large-scale development of the western region was held in Chongqing.
The meeting set the tone for the status of the western region:
The western region plays a pivotal role in the overall situation of reform, development, and stability throughout the country.
The western region includes Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, a total of 12 provinces and cities.
It has 72% of the country's land area and 27% of the population.
However, in this symposium, there is only one area that is directly named:
Vigorously promote the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.
At the same time, Chongqing and Sichuan also received a new task, which can also be understood as a status upgrade:
Sing the "Tale of Two Cities" in the west in the new era.
01
In fact, it is not a new saying that Chengdu and Chongqing want to sing "A Tale of Two Cities" well.
The "Outline of the Construction Plan for the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle" clearly points out:
Strengthen top-level design and overall coordination, firmly establish the concept of integrated development, and sing the "Tale of Two Cities".
However, the saying of singing the "Tale of Two Cities" in the west is still the first time that it has appeared publicly. This shows that the "Tale of Two Cities" between Chengdu and Chongqing is not only related to the development of Sichuan and Chongqing, but also plays an important role in the entire western region.
This is determined by the status of Sichuan and Chongqing. As the leader of the western region, Sichuan and Chongqing are the provinces with the largest economic aggregate and the largest population in the western region, and the only municipality directly under the central government in the inland region.
Taking Sichuan as an example, as a major province in terms of population, economy, resources and agriculture in western China:
Sichuan has a registered population of more than 90 million, ranking fourth in the country, with an area of 486,000 square kilometers, ranking fifth in the country, and an economic aggregate of more than 6 trillion yuan, ranking fifth in the country.
It is an important base for power transmission from west to east, gas transmission from west to east, and data from east to west, and about one-third of the country's hydropower and about a quarter of natural gas are provided by Sichuan.
By the way, it was also clearly mentioned in this meeting that the interconnection of the pipeline network should be strengthened and the capacity of "west-to-east power transmission" should be enhanced.
In fact, it is not surprising at all to continue to improve the status of Sichuan and Chongqing at this time - as Xixi Jun has said many times before, history has repeatedly proved that the more the situation changes, the higher the importance and strategic position of Sichuan and Chongqing.
02
In fact, there have been traces of this for a long time.
The recently approved and announced "Sichuan Provincial Land and Spatial Plan (2021-2035)" clearly states that "Sichuan Province is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the southwest inland, which is the strategic hinterland of the mainland's development and an important area to support the implementation of national strategies such as the development of the western region and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in the new era." ”
Judging from the public approvals in various places, Sichuan is the only one that has been identified as a "strategic hinterland" in the official plan.
This time, Chongqing has also gained a new positioning:
An integrated hub for inland opening.
Judging from public information, this kind of positioning is also the first time to appear - the keyword is the word "comprehensive".
In the past, when we talked about hubs, we generally referred to "transportation", and when we said that we were open, we generally referred to "highlands". The concept of "integrated hub" can be understood as a gateway city. This means that Chongqing's urban function, or the role it has been given, has been further extended.
It can be clearly seen that from the requirement to sing the "tale of two cities" in the western region well to the promotion of both statuses, Sichuan and Chongqing have won the tilt of national policies with a posture of advancing in parallel.
In fact, this echoes a very important fact, that is, the status of Sichuan and Chongqing on the national strategic map has always been established in the form of a group.
In other words, only Sichuan and Chongqing as a whole can gain a "sense of existence" that is second to none in the entire inland region.
Therefore, this time, Chongqing and Sichuan are asked to sing the "Tale of Two Cities" in the western region together, in fact, there is another prerequisite that cannot be omitted:
Chongqing and Sichuan should work closely together to continuously improve their development level.
This echoes the need to "cultivate a culture of cooperation" mentioned in the outline of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.
As we all know, due to historical reasons, Sichuan and Chongqing do need to solve some practical problems in the development of cooperation.
In recent years, with the promotion of the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, it can be said that a historic breakthrough has been made in the sharing of public services, the complementarity of industries, and the interconnection of infrastructure between the two places.
The repetition of "close cooperation" may indicate that there is still a lot of room to be explored in "nurturing a culture of cooperation" between the two places. This can also be said to be an important task entrusted to the two places.
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So, judging from this meeting and related tones, what specific opportunities will Sichuan and Chongqing usher in?
Several statements from the meeting are noteworthy.
First, after "vigorously promoting the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle", it will be followed by actively cultivating urban agglomerations, developing and expanding a number of provincial sub-central cities, and promoting infrastructure connectivity and public service sharing between cities.
This means that a group of sub-central cities will receive greater support.
At present, Sichuan has explicitly supported Mianyang to speed up the construction of a provincial economic sub-center in northern Sichuan, Yibin-Luzhou to build a provincial economic sub-center in southern Sichuan, and Nanchong-Dazhou to cultivate a provincial economic sub-center in northeast Sichuan.
It corresponds to 5 cities - Mianyang, Yibin, Luzhou, Nanchong, and Dazhou.
Compared with other major economic provinces, as the fifth largest province in the country, Sichuan's sub-central city development level does still have a lot of room to be explored.
It can also be said that the task of "developing and expanding a number of provincial sub-central cities" is still relatively heavy.
Second, promote the integrated development of central enterprises and the western region.
At present, the second batch of central enterprises to move out of the tide kicked off, in the Sichuan and Chongqing region, which has a comparative advantage in various development factors, if it can harvest the new central enterprise headquarters, it will naturally be very good.
You must know that in the last round of relocation of central enterprises, Wuhan and Ganzhou in the central part of the country have gained, while the western region is blank. The opportunity for the second batch of central enterprises to move out, whether it will be the turn of the west, or even Luozi Sichuan and Chongqing, the above statement provides greater imagination.
Third, strengthen the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, actively cultivate and introduce high-level scientific and technological innovation talents, and strive to overcome a number of key core technologies; deepen scientific and technological innovation cooperation in the eastern, central and western regions, and build a national independent innovation demonstration zone and a demonstration zone for the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements; develop new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, explore the development of modern manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, lay out and build future industries, and form new momentum for regional development.
It can be seen that Sichuan and Chongqing should undertake some of the most "golden" tasks, and lay out and develop future industries. This can be understood as an industrial backup.
Finally, on understanding the relationship between Sichuan and Chongqing, as well as the development potential of Sichuan and Chongqing, I once again quoted some key tone of the high-level inspection in Sichuan last year.
It's very informative and worth savoring:
"In the new era and new era, there is still a concept of a big rear";
Considering that "our main belongings are located in the coastal area", "you should also become a growth pole and a new power source for high-quality development." The meaning of this rear is not the same as in the past. ”
"There are slight differences between the cultures of Sichuan and Chongqing, but the differences are not as big as those of Shanghai and Beijing. Sichuan and Chongqing complement each other, integrate and promote each other, and share the same beauty. It is necessary to adhere to the 'Sichuan-Chongqing game of chess', the 'division' of administrative divisions at the beginning, and the 'integration' of regional coordination now, with the same purpose, all for the purpose of promoting development. ”