Integration push eases wage gaps in northern China, official says
Disposable income said to have jumped 41 per cent in Hebei in five years
A Chinese programme to integrate Beijing’s economy with neighbours Tianjin and Hebei has brought tangible benefits and helped ease damaging income gaps, a government official said, amid complaints the pace of reform has been too slow.
China announced plans to create the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei northern “super region”, also known as Jing-Jin-Ji, in 2014, as it sought to upgrade the heavy industrial economy of the smog-prone Hebei province while easing congestion, pollution and overdevelopment in the capital.
Firms would be encouraged to relocate from Beijing to Hebei and Tianjin by introducing unified regulations, social services and an integrated transport network. The government also established the new Xiongan economic zone in Hebei last year where some of Beijing’s “non-capital” government functions and industries will be relocated.
But at this year’s full session of parliament, delegates have called for the programme to be accelerated, especially when it comes to transport, with Hebei hoping for improved access to a new international airport under construction in Beijing.
They also said not enough has been done to resolve the innovation gap between Hebei and the capital, which benefits from several hi-tech industrial parks.