The sword is pointing at 8 trillion! The largest province in the central and western regions is quietly changing its "engine"

Western cities

2024-06-06 21:39Posted in Sichuan Finance and Economics Creator

Text丨 Western Jun

Regional competition is surging.

In recent times, there have been frequent big moves in various places.

In the Yangtze River Delta, 14 cities have discussed the overall land and space planning of the Shanghai metropolitan area, and a "Shanghai metropolitan area" involving a population of 110 million and a total GDP of 18.28 trillion yuan is about to emerge.

The Greater Bay Area, with the official opening of the Guangzhou-Foshan South Ring Road and the Foguan Intercity, the "Greater Bay Area on the Track", which runs through the four lines and spans the five cities, will be accelerated.

Shifting its attention to the western region, Chongqing and Xinjiang joined hands and announced that they would work together to serve and promote the large-scale development of the western region and form a new pattern.

Also in the west, Sichuan, as the largest province in terms of inland economic aggregate, has also begun a showdown - by 2027, the total economic output will cross another two trillion yuan level.

That is, three years later, Sichuan's GDP will exceed 8 trillion yuan, which is roughly equivalent to Zhejiang's total economic output by the end of 2023.

As we all know, as the only "strategic hinterland" for the development of a major country that has been approved by the state, Sichuan has high hopes under the current pattern.

The establishment of this goal is of great significance.

01

A few days ago, Sichuan's decision to solidly promote high-quality development with the development of new quality productivity as an important focus was announced, and there was a lot of information.

It sets a target of a GDP of more than $8 trillion by 2027, while also charting a path to achieve it.

If it is summed up in one sentence, Xijun thinks it can be:

Upgrade the powertrain and replace it with a new engine.

Specifically, it can be viewed from three aspects.

First, scientific and technological innovation.

It was decided to put forward the implementation of cutting-edge scientific and technological breakthroughs. Specifically, it includes major scientific and technological projects in six major fields.

Major scientific and technological projects of artificial intelligence; major aerospace science and technology projects; major scientific and technological projects of advanced equipment; Major scientific and technological projects in biomanufacturing; major science and technology projects for clean energy; Major scientific and technological projects of advanced materials.

For example, in the aerospace field, we will focus on breakthroughs in key technologies such as advanced aerospace manufacturing, communication and navigation, and intelligent control, and create fist products such as drones and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft;

In the field of biomanufacturing, we will strengthen cutting-edge biotechnology research such as synthetic biology, biotechnology and information technology integration, and make breakthroughs in common key technologies such as biological detection and treatment, nuclear medicine, brain-computer interface, biological breeding, biological intelligent fermentation, sustainable utilization of characteristic biological resources, and biological materials.

It is reported that this year alone, there are about 30 major industrial technological research projects in Sichuan.

As an inland province, what is the confidence of Sichuan to carry out scientific and technological research?

This set of data can be referred to:

Sichuan has the only national laboratory in western China, 17 national (national) key laboratories, 10 national large scientific facilities, 137 ordinary universities, 369 scientific research institutes, and 205 national innovation platforms.

In fact, as a strategic hinterland, Sichuan has always carried a major mission in scientific and technological innovation.

First, last year, Sichuan was entrusted with important tasks by the high-level:

Sichuan should give full play to the advantages of a large number of universities and scientific research institutions, the concentration of innovative talents, and the advantages of a relatively complete industrial system and a strong industrial foundation, and make efforts in scientific and technological innovation and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements at the same time.

It is necessary to improve the scientific and technological innovation system, actively connect with the national strategic scientific and technological forces and resources, optimize and improve the distribution of innovation resources, strive to overcome a number of key core technologies, and strive to build an innovation highland in the western region.

Second, one of the positioning given to the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle by the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle is to become a science and technology innovation center with national influence.

At present, the world is at the critical juncture of the new scientific and technological revolution and the industrial revolution, and in order to improve the quality of development and take the initiative in regional competition, scientific and technological innovation must make some achievements.

This is especially true for inland areas that are in a state of "latecomer".

The reason is not difficult to understand: the more in the period of technological and industrial change, the more likely the "late-developing" regions are to catch up.

This has been proven in the past and is still a work in progress.

For example, in the past decade, the rise of a number of inland towns - Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, etc., is directly related to the popularization of high-speed rail, the prosperity of emerging industries such as electronic information.

At present, the era of new energy vehicles is coming, the domestic automobile industry is facing a reshuffle, and the birth of a number of new "automobile cities", such as Xi'an, Changsha, Changzhou, Hefei, etc., is also directly benefiting from the transformation of technology and industry.

Sichuan should take on a new mission and truly achieve a great leap in economic aggregate and quality, and now is a window that should not be missed.

02

In addition to technological breakthroughs, there is industrial innovation.

Although Sichuan is a western province, it has all 41 industrial categories, and its industrial base is second to none in the entire inland region, and the top priority is to accelerate transformation and upgrading.

The decision proposes to promote the in-depth transformation and upgrading of the industry - to promote the upgrading of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries, and the cultivation of future industries.

A few highlights are worth noting.

First, we will further implement the action of improving the quality and multiplying the six advantageous industries, promote the energy and efficiency of major projects, build trillion-level industries such as electronic information, equipment manufacturing, food and textile, energy and chemical industry, advanced materials, medicine and health, strive to create national advanced manufacturing clusters such as aerospace, cultivate a number of world-class advanced manufacturing clusters, do a good job in the national manufacturing new technology transformation city pilot, and strive to create a national new industrialization demonstration zone.

Second, cultivate and expand emerging industries and future industries. In particular, it should be pointed out that the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence No. 1 Innovation Project.

What does this mean exactly?

It can be referred to that the last industrial "No. 1 project" proposed by Sichuan was electronic information around 2000. Everyone should have seen the results later.

One indicator is very convincing, two of the three national advanced manufacturing clusters shortlisted in Chengdu are related to this: Chengdu software and information service cluster; Chengdu-Chongqing Electronic Information Advanced Manufacturing Cluster.

It is conceivable that if artificial intelligence can replace electronic information in the future and become the new first pillar industry in Sichuan, the upgrading of Sichuan's industry can be said to have taken a big step.

At present, Sichuan, as an important node of the "Eastern Data and Western Computing" project, has 2 national computing platforms, more than 1,100 artificial intelligence enterprises, and 27 universities have opened artificial intelligence-related majors.

The prospect of this "No. 1 Project" is worth looking forward to.

03

In addition to the upgrading of science and technology and industry, there is another important aspect of Sichuan's power system to achieve reengineering - regional coordinated development.

In terms of regional development, Sichuan's "lack of coordinated development" is a prominent shortcoming. This is also a point that is often discussed when the outside world observes Sichuan.

It was decided that there would be a direct response to this. It is mainly reflected in two aspects - promoting the leading development of advantageous areas; Accelerate the completion of outstanding shortcomings in regional development.

The former, the first thing to do is to strengthen the support of Chengdu's polar core.

In recent years, the strategy of "strengthening provincial capitals" and the construction of "sub-centers" have gone hand in hand across the country. For Sichuan, which has a typical "strong provincial capital", the task of building a "sub-center" seems to be relatively heavier.

However, a cognitive misunderstanding to be clarified is that supporting the expansion of the "sub-center" has never meant weakening the "strong provincial capital" - Sichuan's repeated reiteration of the need to strengthen Chengdu's polar nuclear support is a very obvious signal, and it is also a conformity to the status quo and the law of regional development.

The reason is very simple, "strong provincial capital" as a comprehensive highland of population, industry, resources, policies, etc., its supporting role in the province, has an objective irreplaceable advantage, if deliberately "weakening" it, in fact, it is equivalent to tying one's hands and feet.

In fact, the development reality of Sichuan in recent years has also proved that while continuing to strengthen the support of Chengdu's polar core, the "sub-center" is also becoming stronger.

In 2018, Sichuan proposed the construction of "sub-center" for the first time, and unlike many provinces that directly designate sub-centers, Sichuan adopts the model of seven-city competition, that is, relying on actual development results to determine the superiority.

In the end, after several years of competition, Sichuan gradually established three sub-centers: Mianyang, Yibin-Luzhou group, and Nanchong-Dazhou group.

You can look at the change in their share of GDP.

In 2019, Mianyang, Yibin-Luzhou, and Nanchong-Dazhou accounted for 6.1%, 10.0%, and 9.5% of Sichuan's GDP, respectively, totaling 25.6%; Chengdu accounted for 36.5%.

In 2023, Mianyang, Yibin-Luzhou, and Nanchong-Dazhou will account for 6.7%, 10.9%, and 9.0% of Sichuan's GDP, respectively, totaling 26.6%; Chengdu is 36.7%.

It can be seen that the overall proportion of the three "sub-centers" has increased by one percentage point. Separately, the proportion of Mianyang and Yibin-Luzhou has increased, while the proportion of Nanchong-Dazhou has decreased.

Chengdu, from 36.5% in 2019, rose slightly to 36.7%. This amplitude not only reflects the necessary support, but also can be regarded as a reasonable degree.

Of course, it is not only Chengdu's task to promote the leading development of advantageous areas.

Chengdu metropolitan area has been established as the main engine for the development of new quality productivity in the province.

Mianyang should give full play to the advantages of the science and technology city and accelerate the construction of a scientific and technological innovation pilot zone.

Provincial economic sub-centers and regional central cities should plan and implement a number of new major projects and key projects to create an important carrying area for new quality productivity.

It can be expected that in the next few years, the sub-central cities of the economy will reap obvious policy tilts.

In addition, we will support Tianfu New Area to build a park city pilot area and a model for high-quality development, enhance the carrying capacity of industrial and population agglomeration in provincial-level new areas, and deepen the pilot reform of integrated authorization.

04

The next step is to make up for the outstanding shortcomings of regional development.

Among them, the first place is to promote the four cities in the hilly area of central Sichuan to accelerate the construction of a new highland for industrial development, and promote the rise of the central part of the Chengdu-Chongqing region.

The four cities are: Zigong, Suining, Neijiang, and Ziyang.

As we all know, the depression in the central region of Chengdu-Chongqing is not only a shortcoming of the coordinated development of Sichuan, but also an obstacle that must be broken through in the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing double circle.

Another shortcoming, the Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone, decided to put forward greater support for the revitalization and development of the Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone.

Northeast Sichuan includes Dazhou, Guang'an, Nanchong, Bazhong, and Guangyuan. Among them, the sub-center of the northeastern Sichuan provincial economy composed of Nanchong and Dazhou will not rise but decline in the proportion of the province's GDP in the years from 2019 to 2023, which itself also shows the urgency of making up for the shortcomings of the region.

Another city has been specifically named - to support Guang'an to deepen reform and opening up, explore new ways of high-quality development, and build a high-level Sichuan-Chongqing Gaozhu New Area.

Guang'an can be said to be the most special city in Sichuan at present. Because it is included in the Chongqing metropolitan area, it also means that you can enjoy the bilateral dividends of Sichuan and Chongqing, which should be a good comparative advantage for making up for shortcomings.

For a province with a large economy and a large population like Sichuan, the coordinated development of the region and the creation of more development engines play a very important role in the overall leap of the province's development level and comprehensive energy level, and this step must be crossed.

05

Taking the development of new quality productivity as an important focus to seek breakthroughs in high-quality development is a kind of self-pressure and mission of Sichuan.

You must know that the Central Economic Work Conference at the end of last year and this year's government work report both mentioned the same sentence:

Optimize the distribution of major productive forces and strengthen the construction of national strategic hinterland.

It can be seen that Sichuan, which strives to build the core bearing area of the national strategic hinterland, itself should become an important undertaking place for the layout of major productive forces. Accordingly, to focus on the development of new quality productive forces, it is necessary not only to actively conform to this trend, but also to better seize the opportunities in it.

At the same time, it also means that Sichuan's role in the territory of a great power is strengthened and enriched.

When it comes to Sichuan, many people may first think of the role of the security base in resource security - responsible for food security, energy and resource security and ecological security.

This is determined by Sichuan's resource advantages:

Sichuan is the largest hydropower province in the country, and 30 kWh of hydropower for every 100 kWh of hydropower in the country is produced in Sichuan;

Natural gas (shale gas) resources and annual output rank first in the country, and 24 cubic meters of natural gas for every 100 cubic meters of natural gas in the country are produced in Sichuan.

Now, as a strategic hinterland, Sichuan must also take on a major role in the development of new productive forces - "become an important growth pole and a new power source for the high-quality development of the western region as soon as possible".

Xixijun has said many times before that the more complex the situation, the more prominent the importance of Sichuan as a "big rear". At present, we must stand up for security and development.

A new opportunity has opened, and Sichuan must firmly grasp it.

View original image 883K

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•