China names Xiongan New Area as new SEZ outside Beijing

April 3, 2017

HONG KONG - China’s has announced the establishment of a new economic zone 100 km south of the capital, Beijing. The Xiongan New Area will encompass three counties, Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin, sitting at the centre of a triangle formed by the capital, Beijing; one of North China’s busiest port cities, Tianjin; and the capital of Hebei province, Shijiazhuang.

In a special report, BBVA Research says that while the SEZ has been capped at 100 km2 for now, the plan is to extend this to 2,000 km2 , connecting all major urban clusters in a new mega-city.

BBVA says the new area is of national significance, and will form part of a consortia of SEZs like Shenzhen and Pudong New Zone.

Shenzhen was established by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s to experiment with capitalist models of business, while Pudong was created in the 1990s by Jiang Zemin.

Rather than marking a strategic shift in China’s urbanisation plan, the move constitutes a commitment towards China’s long-term urbanisation goals.

Xi Jinping has pledged that 60% of China’s population will live in cities by 2020, and BBVA says it would therefore be more appropriate to compare the initiative to other urban clusters such as the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta.

While Beijing will remain central in terms of its political and cultural significance, the objective is to, with time, build the area into North China’s economic hub, housing manufacturing and corporate facilities as well as non-Government facilities such as universities, hospitals and research institutions.  www.bbva.com (ATI).