Chinese President Xi Jinping has suggested to build the Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province – dubbed China’s “city of the future” – into an innovation hub and a model for promoting high-quality development. He made the remarks while visiting the area, about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing. As a project with national significance, the Xiong’an New Area has been designed to relieve Beijing of functions that are non-essential to its role as the nation’s capital, and to boost the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Since China announced plans to establish the Xiong’an New Area in April 2017, it has evolved from a blueprint into a vibrant city. Xi has attached great importance to the construction and development of the Xiong’an New Area, as this latest trip was his fourth inspection tour of Xiong’an since 2017. He inspected progress in the construction of the zone and visited China Huaneng Group and the Xiong’an campus of Beijing No 4 High School. He also chaired a symposium on further advancing the high-quality construction and development of the new area.
President Xi instructed to steadily advance the construction of relocation projects for centrally administered state-owned enterprises, universities and hospitals which moved from Beijing to Xiong’an. He called for actively exploring future-oriented smart city management models and building Xiong’an into “a beautiful city with a blue sky, green land and clear water”. Xiong’an should integrate technological and industrial innovation, develop new quality productive forces tailored to local conditions, and cultivate a modern industrial system that aligns with the actual situation of the new area.
The high-level construction of the Zhongguancun Science Park in Xiong’an should facilitate the transformation of more scientific and technological research achievements into industrial applications, he said. Xi highlighted the need to promote the development of industrial clusters for emerging and future industries, actively develop the producer service industry, and support the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. He also urged bold exploration and piloting of innovation policies in fields such as science and technology and finance, and called for striving to create a market-oriented, world-class business environment that is governed by a sound legal framework, the China Daily reports.
To date, eight central SOE headquarters have either fully relocated or are setting up their offices in Xiong’an, and more than 4,000 Beijing-based companies have established a presence in the new area. In addition, four Beijing universities have broken ground for their Xiong’an campuses, and two hospitals are building new branches.
