China’s state planning department says that the Xiong’an New Area that was established to take pressure off nearby Beijing is set to become a “model” for the high quality growth that has become the key theme of economic policy.
He Lifeng (何立峰), chair of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the Chinese government would spur the “high quality growth” of the Xiong’an New Area via “in-depth research” into the transfer of certain non-core capital city functions from Beijing.
He made the remarks on 6 March at a press conference for the 13th National People’s Congress that is currently being convened in Beijing.
The Xiong’an New Area is situated approximately 100 kilometres to the southwest of Beijing in Hebei province, and was established in April 2017 as a development hub that would permit the transfer of certain non-core functions of the political capital, encompassing government bodies, research and development centres as well as state-owned enterprises.
“High quality growth” has emerged as one of the key themes of economic policy since the convening of the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party , as China endeavours to upgrade its development model and reduce its dependence upon credit-fuelled growth.
The report for the 19th National CCP Congress held in October last year said that “the Chinese economy has already transitioned from a high-speed growth phase to a high-quality growth phase.”
According to He the Chinese government commitment to high-quality growth will involve greater focus on the five areas of innovative growth, coordinated growth, green growth, open growth, and sharing growth.
With respect to innovative growth, He said that China would breath new life into the conversion of the fruits of scientific research in fields such as aviation, maritime technology and high-speed rail, via the implementation of innovation-driven growth policies.
