Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development to change China's economic landscape

More coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will change both local industrial layout and national economic landscape, experts said.

By 2017, major breakthroughs will be achieved in transportation , environmental protection and industrial upgrades in the region, a document issued in August by the office of a leading group for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area said.

"By transferring non-capital functions of Beijing to neighboring areas, regional industrial layout will be remolded," said Zhang Shuyu, a researcher with the University of International Business and Economics.

Beijing will become the national center of politics, culture and international exchange and a technological innovation center, Tianjin will be a national research and development base for the manufacturing industry and a shipping hub for north China, while Hebei Province will be an important national base for trade and logistics and an ecological buffer zone, according to Zhang.

"Given Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei registered a total gross regional product of 6.7 trillion yuan (1.05 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2014, over 10 percent of national GDP last year, coordinated development will make this area the third largest regional economic entity following the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta," said Zhang.

The central government expected the coordinated relocation of nonessential functions from Beijing would help readjust regional economic structure and nurture new growth sectors.

The medium-term target of the strategy is, by 2020, to control the permanent population of Beijing under 23 million, and to relieve Beijing's "urban illnesses" such as air pollution and road congestion.

In the long term, the aim is an integrated region with better economic structure, a cleaner environment and improved public services. The integrated region will be competitive and with a worldwide influence, according to the document issued by the leading group last month.

Priority will be given to traffic management, environmental protection, energy security and industrial upgrades. Public services will be improved and the area will be created into a better place for foreign businesses.

Innovation will be encouraged, and market forces will play a bigger role in utilizing the resources in the region.

China has long hoped to spur growth in the densely populated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. In early July, Beijing announced it will move some of its city administration out of the city center to the eastern suburbs Tongzhou as part of the capital's contribution to the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

"As for Tianjin, an overlapping area covered by the country's strategies including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development and the Belt and Road Initiative, it matters that we step forward in opening up, soliciting investments, expanding foreign trade, and improving financial service and etc. instead of propaganda," said Han Jing, deputy director of the office for regional economy of Tianjin Development and Reform Commission.