When Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng again raised the issue of integrated economic development of the Yangtze River Delta at the recent local congress sessions, cities in the neighboring provinces were expecting concrete progress.

 

For years, cities in the Yangtze River Delta region have gained fewer benefits from Shanghai than were previously expected.

 

Instead, tough competition from their giant neighbor for both domestic and overseas investment has exerted heavy pressure on the economies of the much smaller cities.

 

The situation has worsened since Shanghai launched 173 square kilometers of "special economic zones" in the city's three suburban districts of Jiading, Qingpu and Songjiang in April 2003, competing directly with neighboring cities for foreign direct investment. This is certainly not what these cities think Shanghai should do.

 

In fact, most of the 49 State-level and 230 provincial-level development zones in the region now look quite bleak a painful reminder of the waste of rare land resources in the region. It is good that Shanghai has finally woken up and realized that for a city with severe land constraints, there is simply no future in engaging in such competition.

 

Engaging in rivalry of this sort sets a bad role model and does not help Shanghai win much-needed respect from its neighboring cities.

 

Last year, Shanghai pledged to reposition itself by getting rid of its land and investment-driven development and switching to innovation-driven and modern service industries.

 

But there is still too much talk and not enough action.

 

It is time for Shanghai to stop letting big, lucrative manufacturing projects go to its neighboring cities.

 

Shanghai should stick to its goal of building itself into an international financial, trade and shipping center.

 

(China Daily February 14, 2007)