Provincial Competitiveness Releases New Seats

In recent years, with the deepening of supply-side structural reform and the implementation of a series of strategies to promote regional coordinated development, China's regional development pattern is undergoing positive changes. The overall competitiveness of the western region has improved, the central region has accelerated its rise, the economic transformation and upgrading of the eastern region is obvious, the gap between the eastern and western regions has narrowed, and the overall pattern has been continuously optimized, showing a new trend of flying wild geese in tandem. At the same time, regional economic development is also facing new challenges, such as unbalanced competition between provinces and regions, the emergence of "shrinking" cities, the widening economic gap between North and South, and so on. How do you view these new changes? In what aspects should the coordinated development of regional economy be strengthened? How can North, South, East and West dance together? Starting today, this newspaper has launched a series of reports on "New Observations of Regional Economy" to carry out analysis and discussion.

China is emerging more and more provinces with "rich enemies". Compared with the GDP in 2018, the top three provinces in China, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong, have reached or even surpassed Australia and Spain in total economic output. And many provinces in China are still catching up with me. Some researchers believe that inter-provincial competition is also one of the reasons why China's economy has always maintained a strong momentum.

Recently, the National Center for Comprehensive Economic Competitiveness released the Blue Paper on China's Provincial Competitiveness, which is the thirteenth consecutive year that the Blue Paper has been published. What is the latest ranking of provincial competitiveness? What are the new perspectives compared with previous years? What challenges remain?

Guangdong and Soviet Union joined the "9 trillion club"

Which province of China has the strongest strength? The answer may not be the only one, but most people are afraid to mention Guangdong.

"Guangzhou is a very attractive city. It has not only a high level of economic development and many large enterprises, but also a good environment for the whole city. It is a city that can drink both herbal tea and coffee. In addition to the construction of Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and the Great Bay Area, I am full of confidence in the development of this city and even the whole of Guangdong. Li Ming, who chose to work in Guangzhou after graduation in 2015, said.

Li Ming's feelings confirm the analysis of Guangdong Province by the research institutes from one side. According to the comprehensive ranking of the economic competitiveness of 31 provincial administrative regions in the Mainland of China from 2016 to 2017 in the Blue Book, Guangdong Province ranks first. Li Jianping, former president of Fujian Normal University and editor-in-chief of the Blue Book, introduced that the so-called comprehensive competitiveness of provincial economy refers to the attractiveness of a province (city or district) to resources, the competitiveness of the market and the radiation driving force to the surrounding areas throughout the country. Under the framework of comprehensive economic competitiveness, GDP is not the only measure index, but a comprehensive consideration of a variety of factors, including macroeconomic, industrial economy, sustainable development, financial, knowledge-based economy, development environment, government role, development level, overall coordination and other specific indicators.

Blue Paper shows that Guangdong Province ranks first in macro-economy, industrial economy, knowledge economy and other specific indicators. Taking the knowledge economy as an example, in 2018, Guangdong ranked first in the country in terms of the total number of patent grants, the number of international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and the number of effective invention patents. At the same time, there are more than 40,000 high-tech enterprises in the province, and the output value of high-tech products is 7.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.0% over the previous year. At the recent Canton Fair, Michael from Canada tried to use voice control to control the obedient "fellow" in front of the Internet refrigerator at the exhibition booth of Guangdong Granz Group Co., Ltd. This is the ICE WORLD Internet refrigerator of the Granz Expo. Michael can not only control it by voice, but also control the intelligent micro-steaming and flue-curing machine and lampblack machine beside him. In Guangdong, whether it is Tencent, Xinjiang and other newly emerging enterprises in recent years, or traditional enterprises such as Glanz and Gree, innovation and creativity are very strong. The provinces in the Yangtze River Delta region have maintained strong competitiveness outside Guangdong. Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang are in the forefront. Taking Jiangsu Province as an example, its GDP exceeded 8 trillion yuan in 2017 and 9 trillion yuan in 2018, which together with Guangdong Province has become the only two provinces in the country to join the "9 trillion club". At the same time, the province's advanced manufacturing industry and scientific and technological innovation have maintained rapid development. In 2018, the output of new energy vehicles, urban rail vehicles and other new products has increased more than doubled. A total of 50 projects in the province have won national science and technology awards, ranking first in the country.

Zhang Zhaoan, Vice President of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, made an analysis of reporters. This year's "Report on the Work of the Government" clearly proposed that the development of regional integration in the Yangtze River Delta should be upgraded to a national strategy. This is an important strategic opportunity for the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta region, and helps to further promote the competitiveness and high-quality development of the region and even the whole country.

Star provinces attracted the attention of all parties, but more noteworthy are those provinces that are not so eye-catching but are catching up with them. Such provinces are of great significance to the regional economic coordination of China as a whole. The Blue Book shows that the overall competitiveness rankings of five provinces (cities and districts) have risen. Among them, Shanxi has risen the most, ranking has risen four, Shaanxi has risen three, and Chongqing, Heilongjiang and Liaoning have risen one. Among them, Shanxi Province has improved in industrial economy, sustainable development, finance, development environment, development level, overall coordination and other aspects.