Yangtze River Delta accelerating towards integrated, high-quality development

Editor's note: Wang Qing is from the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Yangtze River Delta region takes up 4 percent of China's land area, is home to 15 percent of China's population and contributes to about a quarter of the country's GDP, according to the State Council. It is one of China's most economically active, open and innovative regions, which speaks of its strategic significance in the country's modernization and further opening-up. Its regional integration is crucial for leading the country's high-quality development and building a modern economic system. The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region was thus elevated as a national strategy in November 2018.

Over the past five years, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta has achieved cross-regional collaboration in science and technology innovation and industrial innovation, adopted high-standard reform and opening-up, and made coordinated efforts in green development. Shanghai, at the forefront of China's reform and opening-up and as an international metropolis deeply connected to the world, is a vivid example of such achievements.

Shanghai has built itself into an international economic, finance, trade, shipping and hi-tech innovation center of global influence. The city, entrusted with a mission to develop "five centers (economy, finance, trade, shipping, and hi-tech innovation)," has played a driving role in promoting the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

According to data released by Shanghai Municipal Government, a large number of multinationals continue to be attracted to set up their regional headquarters in Shanghai, and the city was already home to 848 multinational regional headquarters and 512 R&D (research and development) centers by June 2022. By the end of 2022, the city achieved a regional GDP of 4.47 trillion yuan ($630 billion), and per capita GDP exceeded 180,000 yuan, which reached the level of a middle-income economy.

The city has promoted its function as a financial center by accelerating the two-way opening-up of the inter-bank bond, foreign exchange and currency markets. In 2022, the added value of Shanghai's financial industry reached 862.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent, accounting for 19.3 percent of Shanghai's regional GDP and 8.9 percent of the country's financial industry added value, ranking first among cities in the country, accoding to the data released by Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

Shanghai has built itself into an international trade center to leverage its strengths as an international economic hub in the last five years. The total import and export volume of goods at Shanghai ports reached 10.4 trillion yuan, accounting for about 3.6 percent of the global market in 2022, which maintained the top position among cities in the world, according to Shanghai Municipal Government.

In 2023, Shanghai ranked third in terms of its comprehensive strength as a global shipping center city, maintaining the position for four consecutive years. Data also shows that Shanghai Port has achieved 13 consecutive championships in container throughput, and according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development's Liner Shipping Connectivity Index, Shanghai Port has been ranked first in the world for 12 consecutive years.

As an international center for scientific and technological innovation, Shanghai's worldwide position in the views of scientists has risen from just over tenth about five years ago to a sixth from the 2022 Global Financial Centers Index. Especially in terms of the development environment for international scientific and technological talents, and in terms of the independent cultivation of local scientific and technological talents, Shanghai's performance has been rated the "best."

Shanghai's strategic function as an international science and technology innovation center has steadily improved, leading with a total of 929 national science and technology major projects and 1,145 national key research and development plan projects. The city's proportion of research and development funds as equivalent to regional GDP has already reached 4.2 percent in 2022, according to Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality. 

Overall, the driving role of the central city of Shanghai has been well developed, and this has put the development of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces forward to form a dynamic growth engine. This has promoted the integrated development of urban-rural regions and cross-border regional cooperation, enhancing the overall competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta region. A coordinated development pattern in the Yangtze River Delta region has been formed, with reasonable division of functions, complementary advantages, and distinctive features.