Qingdao leading growth of city cluster

Bustling port aims to become an international beacon of innovation and development

Qingdao, a port city in East China's Shandong province, aims to grow into a modern international metropolis by 2035, according to a 2021-35 development plan for the city cluster on Shandong Peninsula proposed in January.

Strategically located, the ShandPeninsula city cluster includes 16 cities of Shandong province and connects China with Japan, South Korea and the markets involved in the Belt and Road Initiative countries and regions. In 2020, the city cluster's GDP exceeded 7.3 trillion yuan ($1.16 trillion), accounting for more than 7 percent of the national total.

The plan stressed Qingdao's leading role in building a modern international metropolis and building China into a maritime powerhouse. Qingdao will strive to become a city that functions as an international hub and boasts innovation and a pleasant living and working environment, according to the plan.

At a news conference on Nov 16 last year, Qingdao Mayor Zhao Haozhi said that Qingdao is one of China's coastal economic centers, a tourist destination and a famous historical and cultural city. It has been leading the development of Shandong and seen positive changes since reform and opening-up began in 1978.

Zhao said that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Qingdao, taking up the responsibility of building itself into a modern international metropolis and a platform for Belt and Road cooperation, has made progress in promoting high-quality development and building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects.

During the same period of time, Qingdao's GDP has reached over 1 trillion yuan, its general public budget has risen to over 100 billion yuan and its population has exceeded 10 million. Its GDP grew by 10.7 percent year-on-year over the first three quarters of last year to 1.03 trillion yuan, 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the whole country and the whole province respectively.

The endeavors of the Qingdao government in accelerating the shift from traditional drivers of growth to new growth drivers have produced positive results. Qingdao now boasts a growing innovative capacity, is among the nation's top 10 innovative cities, and is home to many national-level laboratories with focuses on marine science and intelligent appliances. It is also home to the world's first high-speed maglev transportation system with a top speed of 600 kilometers per hour, and 4,400 high-tech enterprises.

More than just the birthplace of world-renowned enterprises such as home appliance maker Haier Group and brewery Tsingtao, Qingdao has fostered COSMOPlat, a first-of-its-kind industrial internet platform developed by Haier, which now ranks top among China's cross-industry and cross-sector industrial internet platforms.

Twenty-six internet platforms to serve certain industries have also been put into operation. A total of 30,000 enterprises are using these platforms. Qingdao has improved its city structure and narrowed disparities in development between rural and urban areas. So far, the urban area of Qingdao has reached 758 square kilometers, giving a boost to its neighbors.

The city has also been optimizing its infrastructure. Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport was put into operation and the cargo and container throughput at the Port of Qingdao ranks fifth and sixth respectively in the world.

The operating mileage of its subway is expected to be increased from 246 km to 503 km in the near future, according to local officials.

Over the years, Qingdao has made progress in pollution prevention and control, given that its air quality has reached the second-class national standard, its 440 rivers and 49 bays are all managed properly and a number of parks and greenways have been built, the government said.

In addition, the city is leveraging its China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Demonstration Area for Local Economic and Trade Cooperation and its section of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone to expand its influence and boost opening-up.

"We regard as our goal the people's aspirations to have a better life," Zhao said.

"Expenditure on people's well-being accounts for more than 70 percent of our fiscal expenditure every year. The per capita disposal income of Qingdao residents has reached 47,156 yuan."

Instead of resting on its laurels, Qingdao has recently identified a set of indicators to flesh out its future actions toward a modern international metropolis and collected constructive suggestions.

Zhang Jianmin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that to solve problems that constrain development of the high-end marine engineering equipment industry, Qingdao should innovate its existing modes, address inadequacies and remove barriers to coordinated work.

In terms of technological application, Zhao Bin, corporate vice-president of legal and corporate affairs for Qualcomm Wireless Communication Technologies, said: "Qingdao should accelerate the deployment and utilization of 5G technology. It is the basic technology of almost all future platforms and will play an important guiding role. If 5G millimeter-wave frequency can be applied to connecting vehicles, urban traffic congestion in Qingdao will be solved."

Zhou Wei, former chief engineer from the Ministry of Transport, said a report from the World Bank showed a one-day delay will lead to an average decrease of 1 percent in cross-border trade. Therefore, improving the overall efficiency of transportation is important to Qingdao.

"The internationalization of Qingdao should start from tourism. Qingdao needs to come up with a world-class plan that differentiates its landscape, products and services from the competition, so as to impress global consumers," said Jia Yunfeng, an expert with the World Tourism Organization.