Xiongan will benefit China's economy despite potential hazards

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On Saturday China published the master plan for the Xiongan New Area and said it is "a strategy that will have lasting importance for the millennium to come, and a significant national event."

The plan is a fundamental guideline to the planning and development of the Xiongan New Area, mapping out the area's future by 2035 and looking ahead into the mid-21st century.

Liu Zhiqin, a senior research fellow from the Chongyang Institute of Financial Studies at Renmin University talked to CGTN about how the Xiongan New Area would benefit China's economy going forward and the potential hazards for the area's development.

Given Xiongan's development status, Liu notes that the area holds a special meaning for China due to its political position – directly under the CPC Central Committee and State Council leadership as well as its economic and ecological role for the nation's development.

The public perception is that Xiongan will be an experimental area for a new Chinese community, which Liu labelled as "the first step of Communist society."

"One feature of a Communist society is equality. So the New Area's development will be well-managed, well-coordinated and well-balanced."

Xiongan New Area /VCG Photo

Two focuses on Xiongan

According to Liu, the first focus will be on how to lower or even eliminate the gap between the rich and the poor from the beginning.

"This is a big burden for the government. So, Xiongan New Area will further focus on this issue and on how to solve this problem."

The second will be on maintaining an ecologically green and balanced development in an era of a shared future, community and destiny for the nation.

"It is very important for our country to know what model should be followed for the next ten, even twenty years. Xiongan will become the best and the first and only model for all other areas to follow."

Xiongan New Area /VCG Photo

To achieve the exemplary model

Given the scope of the project – the central government has needed a four-year preparation period for setting the plans – China needs another year or two on top of this to fully understand how to develop it, with each stage under cautious study and evaluation, Liu noted.

One of Xiongan's major intended functions was to attract investment from foreign companies and countries despite problems that China may have with overseas enterprises.

China has to pay more attention to coordinated development with other countries and regions and be aware that the international outside environment is filled with many uncertainties.

Therefore, knowing how to cooperate with these outside regions and companies will be a crucial factor in Xiongan's success, concluded Liu.