The State Council, the country's cabinet, recently issued a guideline on further pushing for the reform and opening-up in the Yangtze River Delta region and promoting its economic and social development. The move demonstrates the country's efforts to explore a new coordinated development model in the region. This comes in the context of great changes that the international economic environment is undergoing and of deepening of domestic reforms in various aspects. It also shows the government is determined to improve the overall economic quality of the delta, the country's economic powerhouse, and raise its international competitiveness.

An analysis of changes in China's development strategy and its emphasis on the development of different regions will clearly find the shift in the country's focus in regional development. Its substantial efforts to boost development of the Pearl River Delta region in the 1980s, the Yangtze River Delta region in the 1990s and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei belt in the early 21st century promoted the evolution of the coastal regions-first development pattern.

The country's strategy for a balanced regional development was mainly marked by its policy to rejuvenate the northeastern region, promote western development, re-emergence of the central region and set up a comprehensive experimental zone along the southwestern Chengdu and Chongqing region.

At the same time, the process of regional integration has also been obviously stepped up within bigger regions. This was marked by an accelerating integration between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, between Zhengzhou, Bianzhou and Luoyang in Henan Province, between Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan in Hunan Province, and between Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in coastal Fujian Province.

The vigorous advancement of regional economy throughout the country is attributed to the strong driving force of the country's accelerating industrialization, its emerging information technology industry, urbanization as well as an irreversible globalization in the world. The establishment of the socialist market economic system, the introduction of the scientific outlook on development and the striving for a harmonious society have also contributed a lot to the country's blossoming regional development.

In its latest guiding document, the government pointed out the push for reforms and opening-up in the Yangtze River Delta region and promoting its economic and social development will play a strategic and leading role in the construction of the country's overall socialist modernization. In view of its position in the country's entire development strategy, the region has to realize a scientific, harmonious and integrated development, the document says.

It also set a series of aggressive ambitions for the region, spearheaded by Shanghai, the country's economic and financial hub. For example, the region is set to develop into the country's strongest region in terms of overall strength, first realize regional integration, and forge an industrial structure with modern services as the mainstream sector. Also, the region is set to become an advanced manufacturing base in the world and expand to the entire Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and even to a wider region from its previously established development belt of 16 key cities in the region.

To build the Yangtze River Delta region into an important open door in Asia, an advanced manufacturing base in the world and a world-level modern city compound with a sharp competitive edge, as outlined by the document, efforts should be made to actively explore a new regional economic development and management model under the new situations.

First, Shanghai, the bellwether of the Yangtze River Delta region, should make an active contribution to promoting coordinated regional development. In the era of information and globalization, all cities, whether big or small, may possibly become an important link in the world's economic context. Take Yiwu. The city in Zhejiang province has now become world-renowned for its booming daily commodity wholesales. Shanghai should play its role as a modern world metropolis and help other cities in the region expand openness to and increase economic links with the outside world.

Second, Shanghai should conduct viable cooperation and interaction with other cities within the region in important fields in the hope of achieving a win-win result in their march toward modernization. For instance, the regional cities should further strengthen the construction of the already developed transport network among them, which will be helpful to the flow of talents within the region and its economic merger and integration.

In addition, the cities should strive to push for further division of labor and a more reasonable industrial distribution to cultivate some advantageous industries or industrial compounds in different regions. For example, through capital merger, Shanghai can build a maritime transportation group with neighboring ports of Ningbo and Lianyungang. It can also build a trans-regional exhibition corporation by making use of its hosting the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

The author is a professor with Shanghai-based Fudan University.

(China Daily October 23, 2008)