Xinhua Headlines: Cooperation fuels accelerated economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region
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E-mail Xinhua, March 20, 2025
BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- As the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region enters its second decade in 2025, it has witnessed a significant milestone.
For the first time in a decade, the region's annual GDP growth has outpaced the national average, reflecting deepened cooperation and high-quality development.
Official data shows that in 2024, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei recorded respective GDP growth rates of 5.2 percent, 5.1 percent and 5.4 percent, bringing the region's total economic output to 11.5 trillion yuan (about 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars).
In 2014, China initiated the strategy of coordinating the development of the national capital of Beijing and neighboring Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province.
Since then, the region has made remarkable breakthroughs in high-quality development, offering the world Chinese wisdom on the future of mega-urban governance.
"I am deeply grateful to Beijing, the fertile ground that nurtured Xiaomi," Lei Jun, founder and CEO of tech giant Xiaomi, said early this month.
On Feb. 28, Xiaomi launched its SU7 Ultra EV, drawing significant market attention. By early March, the company's market value had tripled to 1.3 trillion yuan within a year, underscoring its growing influence.
Xiaomi's rapid rise in China's new energy vehicle market is a testament to the industrial synergy of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, where collaboration has played a crucial role in shaping a new model of high-quality development.
In one example of this collaboration, 22 percent of SU7 Ultra's components are sourced from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Beijing supplies window regulators and air filters, Tianjin contributes headlights, seats and gearboxes, and Hebei provides batteries and luggage racks.
This industrial synergy reflects a broader regional transformation. "Over the past decade, the region has undergone a significant transition, shifting from reducing excessive capacities to fostering high-quality development," said Liu Bozheng, executive deputy director of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordination office.
In Beijing, this shift is evident in the rise of new market entities in the technology and commercial sectors, whose market share grew from 40.7 percent in 2013 to 67.7 percent in 2024.
Tianjin has deepened its economic restructuring by reducing debt burdens and optimizing industrial planning. Meanwhile, Hebei has undertaken significant capacity adjustments, cutting its steel production from a peak of 320 million tonnes to under 200 million tonnes.
"The integration of innovation and industrial chains across the three locations has enhanced the region's competitiveness and accelerated the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements," said Zhou Hao, deputy director of the coordination office.
At a dark factory operated by Lenovo in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin Municipality, countless green lights flicker as workers conduct routine inspections
The zero-carbon smart manufacturing facility operates in "black-light" mode, where a computer motherboard production line runs at full capacity with seamless automation.
"With our IT architecture, production efficiency has increased by 200 percent, allowing us to complete one motherboard and one laptop every nine seconds," said Yu Xiaojian, director of Lenovo's Tianjin factory.
In 2023, the Lenovo Tianjin Innovation Industrial Park was officially launched, becoming the company's first global headquarters outside of Beijing.
The facility has not only strengthened Lenovo's industrial footprint but also brought significant business and employment opportunities to Tianjin. Today, Lenovo's workforce in the municipality exceeds 3,000 employees, and its annual revenue surpasses 30 billion yuan.
Beyond industrial collaboration, the region has made strides in infrastructure development, ecological governance and public services.
In a testament to these efforts, the region's annual average concentration of PM2.5 in 2024 dropped by over 60 percent compared to 2013, highlighting significant progress in environmental management.
Meanwhile, Beijing facilitated 84.37 billion yuan in technology transfers to Tianjin and Hebei in 2024, fostering deeper regional integration. Additionally, the three areas have jointly established 14 innovation platforms, further strengthening their collaborative momentum.
"The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is focusing on developing new quality productive forces, leveraging Beijing's core economic momentum to transform its growth model and build a modern capital metropolitan area, which will, in turn, drive the development of the broader Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban cluster," said Yin Zhi, executive deputy director of the Institute for China Sustainable Urbanization at Tsinghua University.
"The future is not about the three places competing for a fixed share of resources, but about expanding the economic pie together," Yin added. Enditem
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