President Xi Jinping's inspection of Xiongan New Area, China's emerging, hypermodern, state-level metropolis, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Beijing, focuses attention on his policy priorities.

Xi's domestic inspection trips always serve multiple purposes. Certainly, he requires himself to keep close to the real China — people, projects, problems — setting the example for officials at all levels. But it is Xi's selection of inspection sites that resonate with what Xi and senior leadership consider to be policy priorities — and now, following the establishment of China's new government in March, with a vision and a mandate that extends 10 to 15 years, even 25 plus years — Xi's policy priorities are especially revelatory. This brings us back to Xiongan and Xi's Deep Message here.

Xiongan New Area was founded in 2017 after several years of plan; it is President Xi's initiative to develop a north region to a level comparable to that of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area. Xiongan has at least four major goals: to shift the non-capital functions of Beijing, relieving urban pressures on China's capital; to catalyze development of the entire Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Province area, coordinating economic growth; to serve as a prototype of the city of the future, "free of urban maladies," with the internet of things and a highly livable environment; and to epitomize China's "millennium plan" of socialist modernity, stressing high-quality development. Xiongan intends to be fully functional by 2035 and completed by 2050, symbolizing the two target dates of President Xi's "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

A highlight of President Xi's inspection was his presiding over a symposium on constructing Xiongan New Area with high standards and high quality, resonating with China's overall emphasis on high-quality development. Arriving from Beijing via high-speed rail, Xi's on-site inspections began with Xiongan's high-tech railway station, which connects both Beijing and Tianjin in about 50 minutes. Xi stressed that when visitors arrive in Xiongan, they should feel the high-end, high-tech modern atmosphere.

Xi reviewed plans for Xiongan's International Trade Center, Convention and Exhibition Center, and its transportation systems, which he called the "blood" of modern cities. As always, he visited an ecological area, emphasizing its management and protection.

In his speech at the symposium, President Xi called for Xiongan to implement China's innovation-driven development strategy, promote forward-looking innovation pilot projects, and make Xiongan a "highland of innovation" and a "hot spot for entrepreneurship" in the new era. He stressed that a market-oriented, rule-of-law, and international first-class business environment is necessary to attract domestic and foreign forces and capital.

Consistently, Xi stresses advanced science and technology, strengthening innovation capabilities, transforming scientific and technological achievements — and Xiongan is an ideal, blank canvas, as it were, on which to create new formats and new models, where science and technology can make smart, green and innovative development the hallmark of the Xiongan New Area.

Recognizing that constructing Xiongan is a millennium plan and a major national event, Xi advised, it "should be pushed forward with concrete actions and sustained efforts."

There are always challenges in building new cities, including bureaucratic frictions and attracting dynamic, innovative young people to live and work there. Xi called for policy incentives, including children's education, medical care, housing, salary, social security, and medical insurance.

Underscoring the importance of Xi's inspection of Xiongan, he was accompanied by three Politburo Standing Members, including Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang. I cannot imagine a single senior Chinese official or business executive who would fail to recognize Xi's Deep Message in Xiongan and about Xiongan.

I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

Script: Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Editors: Yang Yutong, Liang Zhiqiang

Designer: Qi Haiming

Producer: Wang Ying

Supervisors: Ge Jing, Adam Zhu

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