Written by Gan Quan / Translated by Li Jie

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Chongzuo： Striving to Unleash the Potential of Development and Opening-up

Written by Gan Quan / Translated by Li Jie

On August 12, 2016, the application for Guangxi Pingxiang Key Development & Opening-up Experimental Zone (hereinafter referred to as GPKDOEZ) was formally approved by the State Council of the P.R.C., raising the level of border development and opening-up in Chongzuo, which has the jurisdiction over Pingxiang. Given this, Chongzuo is reinforcing its border-based development and opening-up towards ASEAN and pursuing the path of its own characteristics.

Seven key advantages

Chongzuo, established on August 6, 2003, boasts exceptional regional advantage that has quick access to Vietnam and even ASEAN. Therefore, to bring about development and prosperity, Chongzuo should take the initiative in development and opening-up.

“The approval for GPKDOEZ will provide new impetus for the further development and opening-up of Guangxi, create a new growth frontier of higher openness for Guangxi’s border-based economy, and offer hard-won platforms and opportunities to national unity and border stability,” noted Zhang Xiaoqin, Vice Governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

At the promotion conference & signing ceremony of GPKDOEZ held during the 13th CAEXPO, Mr. Liu Youming, Secretary of Chongzuo Municipal Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of Chongzuo Municipal People’s Congress, elaborated on seven key advantages of this experimental zone: (a) vast area (six counties) and large population (1.72 million); (b) numerous ports, including four Class A ports, three Class B ports, and 14 border areas; (c) various open platforms like Nanning-Chongzuo-Pingxiang Foreign Economic Belt, Guangxi Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone, Pingxiang Border Trade Economic Cooperation Zone, China-Thailand (Chongzuo) Industrial Park; (d) higher targets, namely building GPKDOEZ into a significant platform for China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperation, a pilot area for an upgraded version of CAFTA, a growth frontier for border-based economy in Southwest China, a new regional economic center in Guangxi’s southwestern area, a demonstration area for bringing harmony, security and prosperity to the neighbors, and the forefront of border development and opening up; (e) distinctive advantages of geographical location close to the border, river, railway, seaport, airport and ASEAN; (f) superimposed policies such as pilot policies granted by the state to experimental zones and preferential policies related to CAFTA, the large-scale development of China’s western region, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, the Pearl River-Xijiang River Economic Belt, etc.; (g) prominent border features, namely creating the border economic cooperation zone, international tourism cooperation zone, newtype pilot area for villages and towns in the border area, demonstration area for international production capacity cooperation, processing trade cooperation center, and industrial cooperation center surrounding airport.

To give full play to advantages of this experimental zone, Chongzuo is working hard to put into place a series of measures related to reform and innovation: accelerating the construction of China-Vietnam (Pingxiang-Dong Dang) Cross-Border Economic Cooperation Zone, Guangxi Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone, China-Thailand (Chongzuo) Industrial Park; upgrading the Friendship Pass’s customs declaration and inspection, personal RMB settlement of cross-border trade, settlement of frontier trade, and cross-border E-commerce; setting up the branch center of the RMB to ASEAN currency clearing & settlement center, etc.

International cooperation oriented towards ASEAN

It is reported that a total of 42 cooperation agreements were signed during the 13th CAEXPO, and the total investment amounted to about 25.87 billion yuan, which is fundamentally attributed to Chongzuo’s engagement in China-ASEAN opening-up and cooperation, regional cooperation mechanisms relatedto Greater Mekong Sub-region, China-Vietnam “Two Corridors, One Circle” and China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, etc.

Angelyeast's factory stationed in China-Thailand （Chongzuo） Industrial Park

Moreover, Chongzuo has been proactively engaging in friendly exchanges with ASEAN countries all the time, establishing sister-city relationships with 11 provinces, cities or counties in 11 countries, respectively; in the meantime, thanks to friendly exchanges and profound friendships between Chongzuo and relevant countries, effective communication and cooperation have been enhanced, thus pressing ahead with Chongzuo’s borderbased trade and opening up.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that, under the Belt and Road Initiative, Chongzuo is advancing the construction of China-Thailand (Chongzuo) Industrial Park, with the aim of building it into a demonstration zone for international economic and trade cooperation. Bestowed with exceptional regional advantages, convenient traffic conditions, solid industrial basis and preferential policies, the park focuses on the creation of six industrial projects, namely ASEAN local foods production, new energy resources, new materials, cane sugar cycling, home furniture, and Thai business & leisure services.

Mr. He Shaowei, Director of China-Thailand (Chongzuo) Industrial Park Administrative Committee, said that Thai culture would be embedded into the planning and construction of this park, and Thai performance arts and gourmet foods would also be brought here, so as to create a green industrial park accessible to business, residence and tourism.

Furthermore, Chongzuo also is trying to make itself incorporated into the tourism circle under the Belt and Road Initiative, including the construction of China-Vietnam Detian-Ban Gioc Falls International Tourism Cooperation Zone and China-Vietnam Youyiguan (Friendship Pass) International Tourism Cooperation Zone, with a view to creating an economic community of China-Vietnam border tourism and building Chongzuo into one of major cultural tourism destinations in the China-ASEAN region; work is being done to develop cross-border tourism routes like border exploration together with ASEAN countries. Of particular note is that rock paintings carved in the Hua Mountain have been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

At present, Chongzuo is vigorously implementing the strategy of “bringing in and going global” and developing the port-based economy. Besides utilizing capitals from Hong Kong (China), Taiwan (China) and Thailand, Chongzuo is also energetically bringing in foreign capitals from America and EU countries. Now Chongzuo’s international influence is being improved by organizing local enterprises to pay fi eld visits to external markets and participate in overseas exhibitions and project biddings.