Central region stepping up to the plate

The high-quality development of the country cannot and should not be advanced independent of that of the central region, which is why the central authorities on Wednesday called for solid efforts to further energize the region.

The central region’s development has reached a higher level since the last time the central authorities called for the collective energizing of the six central provinces five years ago. For instance, over the past five years, the economy of the central region has been generally stable, the momentum of innovative development has been continuously enhanced, its industrial foundation has been significantly improved, reform and opening-up have taken new steps, social undertakings have developed in an all-round way, people’s living standards have continued to improve, and the pace of green and low-carbon transformation has accelerated.

It is fair to say that the region has better conditions for advancing its high-quality development. Yet there are still many difficulties and challenges that need to be overcome.

The region, which comprises Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi and Hunan, covers an area of 1.03 million square kilometers, about one and a half times the size of Texas, and has a population of 368 million.

Thanks to the country’s fast economic growth over the past more than 40 years, the region is now the country’s important grain production base, energy and raw material base, modern equipment manufacturing and high-tech industry base, and comprehensive transportation hub.

In terms of economic size, the gross domestic product of the central region reached 27 trillion yuan ($3.75 trillion) in 2023, accounting for about 22 percent of the national GDP, with a population of about 26.29 percent of the national total.

To advance the region’s high-quality development, more efforts now need to be made to push forward industrial innovation led by scientific and technological innovation, and actively cultivate new quality productive forces.

It is crucial that local authorities in the region make forward-looking plans for modernizing the industrial system underpinned by advanced manufacturing.

Also, efforts should be made to better link the region with the nation’s other major national socioeconomic and regional development strategies, such as those related to the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Yellow River Basin ecological and environmental protection, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integrated development, and the Greater Bay Area, to help the region better integrate into and support the country’s new development pattern.

The six provinces should pay more attention to strengthening their regional coordination and promoting the free flow of production factors not only within the region but also with neighboring regions, so as to promote deep reforms and high-level opening-up in a coordinated manner. The progress of the Belt and Road Initiative and the free trade agreements between China and other economies, as well as the fast development of the digital economy and cross-border e-commerce, all provide the central provinces with better opportunities, stages and channels to step up their joint efforts to grow into a more competitive inland pacesetter for opening-up that is closely connected with the world market system.

They should remove any institutional barriers obstructing their cooperation, and avoid a beggar-thy-neighbor development pattern and local protectionism. By enhancing their collaboration and coordinated endeavors across the board, and pooling their efforts and wisdom they can better play their role in ensuring the nation’s food security, ecological and environmental protection and green and low-carbon development.