China issues guideline on high-quality development of central region

BEIJING -- China has issued a guideline on promoting the high-quality development of the country's central region in the new era.

The guideline, jointly released on Thursday by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, details measures to promote the region's economic growth, scientific and technological innovation, urbanization, green development, opening-up and people's well-being.

China's central region includes the provinces of Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan.

By 2025, the comprehensive strength and competitiveness of the region should be further enhanced, and marked progress should be achieved in innovation capacity, with its proportion of research and development input in the regional GDP reaching the national average, says the guideline.

The region's urbanization rate should be increased by more than 1 percentage point annually, and the balanced development between urban and rural areas should be further strengthened, according to the document.

By 2035, the region should put in place a modern economic system, basically accomplish socialist modernization and make substantial headway in common prosperity, according to the document.

Regarding promoting advanced manufacturing, the guideline urges the building of industrial bases focused on sectors including intelligent manufacturing, new materials, new-energy vehicles and electronic information.

Efforts should also be made to facilitate the major technological transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing sector, attaching importance to fostering the intelligent, green, service-oriented development of traditional sectors such as the coal, construction and steel industries, according to the document.

It also underscores accelerating the construction of national logistics hubs in Zhengzhou, Changsha, Taiyuan, Yichang and Ganzhou, and increasing the listed products of the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.

To promote integrated development, the central region should become integrated into major regional strategies, the guideline said, stressing support for Anhui Province to take an active part in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

Amid efforts on urban development, it urges the region to improve infrastructure and public services, build more sponge cities, and enhance the capacity of flood prevention and control.

Efforts should also be made to advance agricultural and rural modernization, with major grain producers such as Henan being supported to build core areas for grain production.

In terms of environmental protection and pollution control, the guideline says compensation mechanisms for ecological protection and damage should be implemented, while prominent environmental problems in the region should be addressed.

With a focus on city clusters and metropolitan areas, the region should coordinate efforts to prevent and control air pollution, and promote air-pollution treatment in key industries, according to the document.

The region should make efforts to conduct the market-oriented trading of permits for pollution discharge, energy use, water use and carbon emissions.

To achieve inland high-level opening-up, the country should speed up the development of transportation in the region, including building high-speed railways, promoting the construction of an international logistics center and international air-freight shipping center, and improving the international air-traffic network, the guideline says.

It also urges continued efforts to develop pilot free trade zones in the provinces of Anhui, Henan, Hubei and Hunan to a high standard, and optimize a business environment that is market-oriented, rule-based and internationalized.

To enhance the region's ability to provide public services, authorities should carefully review the experience gained from COVID-19 control and strengthen the public health system, the guideline says.

The central region should accelerate the standardization of hospitals for infectious diseases and centers for disease control and prevention, and improve the ability of urban and rural communities to provide medical services.

The supply of high-quality public goods, such as world-class universities and large-scale medical institutions, should be increased in the region, the guideline says, specifying that world-renowned universities will be encouraged to run schools in partnership with local institutions, while large-scale comprehensive medical institutions are welcome to set up subsidiaries in the region.

The guideline also calls for the early implementation of policies to restore the economic and social order of Hubei Province, which was hit hard by the epidemic last year.

In terms of fiscal and financial support, the central government will continue to increase transfer payments to the central region, and local governments can be allocated more bond issuance quotas on condition that risks are under control.