Situated in China's Northeastern coastal region near Beijing, the Tianjin Binhai New Area was incorporated into China's comprehensive state development strategy in June 2006. This latest epic push for progressive economic development and social progress follows the economic surge along the Zhujiang (Pearl) River and Changjiang (Yangtze) River deltas, as well as new development in the west and revitalization of former industrial centers in the nation's northeast. The development of the Binhai New Area further evidences a push by the current generation of leaders as they move to achieve the overall objective of national-scale sustainable development.
The development of the Binhai New Area aims to fulfill four regional goals: Develop a modernized base for manufacture and R&D; establish the largest international port operation in North China, install an international logistics center; and create a very livable and eco-friendly seaside eco-city.
In March 2006, development of the Binhai (Seaside) New Area in Tianjin was officially commenced as part of a national-scale strategic plan for ongoing development. On June 6, the State Council issued the "Opinion on Several Questions Related to the Opening and Development of the Binhai New Area (BNA),?setting forth a series of supportive policies applicable to the fields of finance, taxation, land use, and logistics. The realization of a state-level strategy, high-level planners expect BNA to serve as the third major regional step on the path to sustainable development for the entire nation.
In the 1980s China's second-generation central leaders first directed development efforts to Shenzhen, then a fishing village in Guangdong Province. That regional-scale project officially became known as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a centrally-spawned plan to drive the economic growth of the Pearl River Delta. The Delta fast-became China's first new-generation economic driver, and a progressive engine for China's fast-unfolding reform and opening-up. In the 1990s, China's central leaders of the third generation chose Shanghai's Pudong District as the core of economic development. The Changjiang River Delta area, with Pudong as the driving force, became the second growth center of China's economy.
While the development of Shenzhen and Pudong was the fruit of a domestic strategy, the policy for the construction of the BNA reflects a state strategy of an international scale. These measures are deemed to be requisite to China reaching full economic globalization.
The Third Rung
The Tianjin Binhai New Area is located in the northern part of East China. An implementation of a strategic deployment design, the BNA will become the third growth region of strategic function, following the Shenzhen and Pudong. The idea is that the economic development of these three vast regional centers along China's eastern coast will radiate to the central and western regions, thus further enhancing the economic development of the entire nation.
The Bohai-Rim Economic Zone is a large-radian semicircular region with Bohai Sea as the center, further comprising the Liaodong Peninsula, Shandong Peninsula, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province. Situated between the urban districts of Tianjin and the seashore, the Binhai New Area encompasses the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA), Tianjin Port Bonded Zone, Tianjin Port, Tanggu District, Hangu District, and Dagang District, as well as parts of Dongli and Jinnan Districts. The officially delineated area spans 153 kilometers along the coastline in the central section of the Bohai-Rim belt.
From a broader international perspective, the BNA is also associated with a great economic pathway - the Eurasian Continental Bridge, which leads to Russia, Central Asia, and Europe. The BNA serves as the nearest regional-scale transit point of Northeast Asia to be connected with the Eurasian Continental Bridge, the main land gateway linking the opposite bank of the Pacific with the Eurasian continent, and the most important and convenient passage to the sea for North China, Northwest China, and even Central Asia. With undeniable strategic functions in North China, Northwest China, Northeast Asia, and Central Asia, the BNA is expected to perfect the development structure of China's eastern coast and enable the fast-developing Chinese eastern areas to further benefit the development of western regions.
Now for the North
China's designers of economic development are confronting and contending with regional imbalance: Inequitable development between south and north, not only in eastern areas, but also across the nation as a whole.
Over the past 26 years, since the implementation of reform and opening-up, it was the Shenzhen SEZ, along the Pearl River Delta, and Pudong, along the Changjiang River Delta, that lead the way. Today, the Pearl River Delta is expanding into a broader area known as "Pan Pearl River Delta,?and the Changjiang River Delta is driving the development of the entire Changjiang River Valley, which spans 1.8 million square kilometers and accommodates a population of about 300 million. The two delta areas have each established their particular development mode, and regional cooperation bodes for further collaborative development.
Compared to the two delta areas, the Bohai-Rim Zone is not booming. The idea of regional economic cooperation within the zone was conceived in the 1980s, but progressed modestly, and since the 1990s the Bohai Rim has lagged behind. Commerce statistics reveal that in 2003 the GDP of Bohai-Rim Economic Zone was only 45.3 percent that of the Changjiang River Delta economic circle, and 10 percent lower than that of the Pearl River Delta economic circle. Of the national GDP, 17 percent was achieved by the Changjiang River Delta, 9 percent came from the Pearl River Delta, and only 8 percent from the Bohai-Rim Zone.
From a strategic perspective, the main goal of developing the BNA is to vitalize the Bohai-Rim Zone and drive the economic development of northern and northeastern regions, so as to narrow the south-north gap in economic growth.
The Base for Boom
The BNA abounds in natural resources and encompasses 1,214 square kilometers of cultivable barren land, shoals, and salt pans. The Bohai Sea territory holds 9.8 billion tons of petroleum resources, with 3.2 billion tons of proven petroleum reserves and 193.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The BNA is particularly abundant in marine resources, boasting a coastline running 153 kilometers and producing 2.4 million tons of crude salt a year. Holding potentially extensive geothermal resources, 20 million cubic meters of terrestrial heat may be harnessed each year. Also within the BNA are a state-class ancient seacoast, a wetland nature reserve, and China's largest plain reservoir, with a water-storage area of 150 square kilometers.
The BNA is powerful player in scientific research. By the end of 2004, established in the BNA were a total of 42 scientific research institutes, 49 R&D centers, 35 postdoctoral stations, eight venture investment companies, and 10 enterprise incubation bases. It is expected that by 2010 about 100 R&D institutions at national and municipal levels, as well as 200 commercial R&D centers will be established, and the area's hi-tech output value will ratio out at more than half of its gross industrial output value.
In 2005, the BNA realized 160 billion yuan in gross production value, up by 19.8 percent, and 399.6 billion yuan in industrial output value, up by 30.7 percent. Export volume grew by 34.8 percent, and the actually utilized foreign capital increased by 45.2 percent. In the first half of 2006, the BNA developed at an even faster rate, realizing 90 billion yuan in gross production value, up by 20 percent over the same period of last year; and 240 billion yuan was yielded in industrial output value, up by 34 percent of the same period of last year.
Great progress has also been achieved in the introduction and construction of large projects. The 12.5-million-ton oil refining project and the one-million-ton ethylene project, both Sinopec ventures, have been commenced. At an investment of 8 billion yuan, the Tianjin Alkali Factory will be renovated and relocated to a new site within the BNA, and this project is now underway. Official estimates indicate that since June 2005, the BNA has introduced more than 10 large projects, each with an investment exceeding $100 million, including South Korea's LG Chem and Hong Kong's Kumho Tires. In addition to more than 750 economic cooperation agreements executed with partners throughout the nation, the BNA has signed an agreement with Airbus to establish an A320 assembly line.
To accelerate the construction of an international logistics center and an international shipping center, the BNA has designed 34 supporting projects. At present, an international trade and shipping service center has been completed and put into service. Collateral to the expansion of the deep-water Tianjin Port, able to accommodate 250,000-ton ships, and a crude oil wharf with a berthing capacity of 300,000 tons, the Beijiang Container Logistics Center, and the Nanjiang Bulk Cargo Logistics Center are underway. This while the expansion of the Binhai International Airport progresses according to schedule.
To date the Tianjin Port has established shipping and trade communications with more than 10,000 foreign clients and 300 ports in 170 countries and regions around the world. In 2004, cargo handled by the port reached 206 million tons in volume - an increase of 27.4 percent over 2003 - ranking the port number three in the nation; and more than 3.8 million standard containers were transited, an increase of 26.5 percent over 2003, ranking fifth in the nation. The total import and export volume achieved through Tianjin Port reached $67.77 billion, and 42 percent of Beijing's export volume, 59 percent of Hebei's, 50 percent of Shanxi's, and 35 percent of Inner Mongolia's were realized through the Tianjin Port. The construction of an international logistics center is projected to further impel the radiating economic effect and drive the BNA and entire Bohai-Rim Zone.
The Tianjin Port Bonded Zone has expanded to realize four major strategic functions: International trade, logistics and distribution, processing, and commodity exhibition and sale. The annual volume of overseas automobiles imported through the Bonded Zone accounts for half of the nation's total. More than 1,000 enterprises around the nation provide materials to BNA's processing and production industries. As a large volume of foreign capital entered the inland areas through the BNA, the BNA has also begun to introduce capital, technology, and trade orders to peripheral areas.
Stressing environmental protection, BNA directors intend to construct and protect two eco-environmental zones in the south and north, which total an area of 500 square kilometers; establish five eco-corridors, at both banks of the lower section of the Haihe River; and construct eco-complexes, including the Guangang Forest Park. The goal is to establish an ecological framework combining protection zones, corridors, and complexes, each with its own characteristics.
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