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As China highlights coordinated regional development as a key driver of the nation’s economic growth in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), how the Yangtze River Delta region should contribute to this pursuit has figured in heated discussions among economists and policymakers.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has underscored several policy priorities for the five-year plan period, including deepening major regional development strategies and promoting coordinated development among different regions.

The Yangtze River Delta, the cluster contributing a quarter of the country’s GDP and covering Shanghai as well as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, is expected to deepen integration and back the nation’s coordinated regional development, although a specific road map has not been decided.

Regional development

We would argue that the financial services industry should lead the way to integrated development of the region, with Shanghai playing a more important role in driving related progress.

Finance is seen playing a pivotal role in social and economic development. For the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, it can serve as a key push in at least three aspects: promoting infrastructure connections; empowering innovative industries; and supporting growth of wealth and consumption upgrade.

The foundation of Yangtze River Delta integration is the linking of public services and infrastructure such as railways and highways, a process that entails a large amount of investment.

Financial institutions should step up innovation and improve financing services for infrastructure projects like those under the PPP(public-private partnership) framework.

Also, the establishment of a system of innovative industries lies at the core of enhancing the competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta. The financial services industry can extend its role of helping market players in the region to sharpen their development capability, providing better financial services to both large corporations and the smaller ones with development potential.

Moreover, boosting people’s wealth and consumption is key to tapping into the potential of domestic demand during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, while per capita wealth and consumption in the Yangtze River Delta have long been in the forefront of the country.

To promote the accumulation of household wealth and consumption upgrade, the development of asset management and consumer finance services must speed up.

The Intelligent Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Summit Forum in Yangtze River Delta was held in Wuhu on November, 13. Relevant national, provincial and municipal leaders attended the ceremony. 

Ningbo, Member of the Standing Committee of Wuhu Municipal Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, said that the forum held in Wuhu is a concrete measure for the city to deeply study and implement the spirit of the fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the spirit of Xi Jinping’s important speech during his visit to Anhui. Centering on the high-quality development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta integration, the forum focuses on the development of strategic emerging industries, builds a communication platform, promotes the recruitment of talents, and serves the cultivation of enterprises. It will certainly vigorously promote the technological progress and industrial growth of our city, and provide scientific and technological support for Wuhu to strive for the title of “city with four remarkable features”.

It is reported that the theme of this forum is “focusing on integrated intelligent manufacturing and enabling integrated high-quality development”, focusing on the needs of robotics, additive manufacturing, intelligent agricultural machinery and other industries in the Yangtze River Delta region. Academic exchanges and technological docking will be carried out to boost the integrated and high-quality development of the intelligent manufacturing industry in the region. Distinguished Professor of Shanghai University, academician of The Royal Canadian Academy of Sciences Zhang Jiujun, and other 15 well-known experts were invited to attend the forum and give keynote speeches.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

The Ministry of Water Resources will designate protection zones along the Yangtze River and clarify the responsibilities of managing departments as part of a two-year campaign to tackle illegal projects and revitalize the river’s shorelines.

Vice-Minister of Water Resources Wei Shanzhong told a news conference on Wednesday that the ministry has finished marking out parts of the Yangtze covering more than 1,000 square kilometers of the river’s basin, and it is planning to draw up boundaries for smaller areas to protect shorelines.

Wei said the ministry will revise regulations to further clarify departments’ responsibilities for shoreline protection and utilization. Regular inspections along the river will be enhanced and smart supervision methods, including satellite remote sensing, camera surveillance and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, will be promoted.

During the ministry’s campaign, 2,441 projects along the shorelines were found to have violated laws or regulations, threatening flood control, river stability, drinking water safety and the protection of nature reserves. By last month, the ministry had dismantled or renovated about 99 percent of those projects and cleared 158 kilometers of shoreline.

Nine provinces and municipalities along about 8,300 km of shoreline have been involved in the campaign, including Shanghai, Chongqing and the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan.

The ministry has cleaned up buildings that occupied ecologically sensitive areas, were built without government approval or occupied shoreline without making the best use of it.

Local governments have transformed such shorelines into grasslands amid the campaign, which was launched in October 2018 but has been temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry said large numbers of docks, bridges, shipyards, pipelines and drainage outlets built in the Yangtze economic zone since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 have brought economic growth to the area.

In January 2016 and April 2018, President Xi Jinping inspected the Yangtze and called for all-out efforts to protect it, saying there should be no large-scale development beside the river.

Xi called for putting restoration of the river’s ecosystem high on the agenda in developing the Yangtze economic belt.

“The cleanup and renovation of the shoreline is a very tough task,” Wei said. “A large number of issues left decades ago have to be resolved, but many of them involve complicated interests. The ministry will make further plans to move on with the task.”

On November 3, the launching ceremony and consultation day of the city’s 119 Fire Protection Publicity Month in 2020 was held in Wanyue City Square, Jiujiang District. Ningbo, Member of Wuhu Municipal Standing Committee and Executive Vice Mayor attended the ceremony.

Ningbo said that holding activities of 119 Fire Protection Publicity Month is not only an effective carrier for people to learn about fire control and an important measure to build a nationwide prevention and control system,but also a strong guarantee to ensure that the city’s fire safety situation is stable. To improve fire fighting is not only the responsibility of fire and rescue agencies, but also the common responsibility of the whole society. Departments at all levels should make concerted efforts, jointly organize and implement various activities of this event, constantly improving people’s ability of fire safety, self-prevention and self-rescue, and providing a good fire safety environment for the coordinated promotion of epidemic prevention and control as well as economic and social development.

Ma Benxuan, an individual winner of the fifth “119” Fire Protection Award, and Wang Xiaopeng, a representative of the winning collective “Dajiang Volunteer Team” in Wuhu, made speeches. A variety of public participation activities were held on the scene, including demonstration of fire rescue equipment, smoke escape experience, competition for prizes and so on.

         Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

HEFEI, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) — The 3rd G60 Yangtze River Delta Sci-tech Innovation Valley Talent Summit concluded Thursday in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province.

Themed “Talents Integration Brings about High Quality Development,” the two-day summit was aimed at promoting talent integration in the Yangtze River Delta region, which is one of the country’s most economically active.

It brought together government officials, industry representatives and scholars from nine cities in the delta region, including Shanghai, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Jinhua, Suzhou, Huzhou, Xuancheng, Wuhu and Hefei.

The event included a round-table conference, dialogue and forum in which participants discussed the development of their cities and inter-city cooperation, with a raft of talent-support policies announced and several agreements signed.

The “G60 science and technology innovation valley” was set up in June 2018 to build an integrated development platform in the region. It was named after an expressway, G60, which runs through several cities in the region.

As of September, the nine cities have attracted more than 1,000 national talents. A total of 547 academician expert workstations and 771 postdoctoral workstations have been set up in the cities. 

The year 2020 is the final year for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The reporter learnedfrom Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau that Wuhu has focused on thebasic living requirements of people in need, strengthened social assistance and security, and effectively secured the bottom line of people’s livelihood security.

According to the report, starting from the second half of this year, urban and rural subsistence allowances in Nanling County havebeen raised to 710 yuan per month, while those in Wuwei City have been raised to 662 yuan per month. The subsistence allowances have been kept in line with the level of social and economic development, growing in step with the disposable income of urban and rural residents. Both the subsistence allowances and the compensation level are among the highest in the province.

At the same time, all counties (cities) and districts in Wuhu shall establish a system of temporary relief funds, which shall be examined and approved directly by towns and streets within the prescribed amount. In case of emergency, “first aid” can be implemented. Currently, Wanzhi District and Fanchang District have delegated the power of review and approval on urban and rural subsistence allowances to towns and streets, speeding up the process, reducing the time of handling affairs, and promoting the quality and efficiency of relief work.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

President Xi Jinping and other Party and State leaders visit on Monday an exhibition in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers forces entering the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to help in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53). The exhibition is at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in Beijing. JU PENG/XINHUA

President calls for studying, publicizing heroic stories of CPV forces at exhibition

    President Xi Jinping hailed China’s victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53)－a victory of justice, peace and the people－on Monday as he urged greater contributions to be made in safeguarding global peace and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

    Xi made the remark while reviewing an exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers forces entering the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to help in the war to resist US aggression at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in Beijing.

    Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the Party and government made a historic and resolute decision to resist US aggression, help the DPRK and defend the motherland 70 years ago.

    The heroic CPV, upholding banners of justice and disregarding their own safety, fought dauntlessly in battles side by side with the DPRK people and army before winning a great victory and making huge contributions to the cause of international peace and human progress, he said.

    The great spirit that was forged during the war is an invaluable spiritual treasure that is set to motivate the Chinese people and nation to overcome all difficulties and obstacles and conquer all powerful enemies, he added.

    Xi called for intensified steps to study and publicize the heroic stories of the CPV forces and to learn the history of the Party, the People’s Republic of China, the country’s reform and opening-up and socialist development.

    It is important to spur the whole Party, the armed forces and the people of all ethnic groups to rally more closely around the CPC Central Committee, keep firmly in mind original inspirations and missions, firm up triumphalism, give play to fighting spirit and enhance fighting capacities, he said.

    Xi was accompanied by other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the Party’s highest body, and Vice-President Wang Qishan while reviewing the exhibition.

    Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, spoke at the opening of the exhibition on Monday morning.

    More than 540 photos, 1,900 cultural relics and a large number of videos and reconstructed scenes were displayed at the exhibition, which is divided into seven thematic sessions.

    On Oct 19, 1950, CPV forces, under a request made by the DPRK, crossed the Yalu River to aid the DPRK’s fight there until a truce was signed in 1953. A total of 2.9 million CPV soldiers entered the battlefield, and 197,653 of them sacrificed their lives in the war.

On Oct 19, the national touring report on exemplary deeds in poverty alleviation was held in Anhui Province. Member of Municipal Standing Committee, Secretary General, Director of municipal publicity Minister Zhang Zhihong and Vice Mayor, Tang Jinsong watched the report in the city venue .

The report began with an important instruction from General Secretary Xi Jinping on poverty alleviation and an important instruction from Premier Li Keqiang. Later, members of the fifth Touring Group told their stories on the front line of poverty alleviation in plain and sincere words. The participants listened attentively and deeply felt the fighting spirit poverty alleviation heroes who have taken root on the front line and devoted themselves to this great cause. They also strengthened their confidence and determination to win the battle against poverty.

The meeting pointed out that winning the battle against poverty is a solemn commitment made by our Party to the people of the whole country. Officials and the masses should adhere to scientific theories as guidance and further enhance their self-consciousness in thought and action to fight and win the battle against poverty. With these advanced models serving as examples, we should further stimulate our passion and motivation to jointly overcome difficulties, consolidating and improving the quality and effectiveness of poverty alleviation.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

In East China’s Anhui province, the government and companies are highlighting the role of intellectual property while pursuing innovation-driven development.

The province, which is to integrate economically with its neighboring Yangtze River Delta－a powerhouse of China－has spared no efforts in upgrading its technological strength.

“IP can serve as an umbrella or a guard to protect technological innovation,” said Cheng Yin, director of the Anhui Intellectual Property Bureau.

Currently, the province is leading the country in terms of IP in the fields of smart manufacturing, electronic information, biomedicine and quantum communication.

In early August, the China National Intellectual Property Administration approved the setting up of an IP protection center in Anhui. It focuses on new-generation information technology and advanced equipment manufacturing industries.

The invention patent examination cycle could be shortened from an average 30 months to 10 months once the center is opened, according to Cheng’s bureau.

“We will keep providing efficient services to companies,” he added.

Anhui has a pool of more than 6,800 IP specialists that have served nearly 6,000 IT companies and more than 100 scientific and technological research institutes in the province, Cheng noted.

Chery is one of China’s largest independent auto brands with a home base in Wuhu of Anhui. It said it has invested 5-7 percent of the company’s annual sales in research and development since its establishment 23 years ago.

Over the years, the company has applied for 19,191 patents. Out of this, 12,393 have been granted, including nearly 3,700 invention patents, said Li Yongjie, IP department director of Chery Holdings.

The automaker has removed the barriers of key technologies that were once monopolized by foreign companies. This spans engines to gearboxes, core spare parts to platform development and from traditional auto technology to that of new energy vehicles, said Li.

“We fully realized the importance of IP rights and set up a comprehensive system that covers the full process from R&D, production to marketing,” he noted.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the total sales volume of new energy vehicles in August rose more than 20 percent from one year ago, according to company figures.

Both domestic sales and exports of the company’s vehicles registered more than 20 percent growth year-on-year as well, the company said.

Also based in Wuhu, CETC Wuhu Diamond Aircraft Manufacture has developed several models of aircraft and sells them at home and abroad.

The company, co-invested in by China Electronics Technology Group and the Wuhu city government in 2013, aims to be a world leader in the aviation industry. It has established an independent R&D system of high-performance general aircraft based on models introduced from their Austrian partners, according to the company.

It has applied for 235 patents, including 122 invention patents, company data showed. So far, 90 patents have been granted to it.

“We have set up a system to award the innovative ideas of the employees. We expect more projects with self-developed IP rights and core competitiveness can be fostered in the future,” said Zeng Rui, the company’s communications director.

Anhui Yingliu Group, a company that produces spare parts for aircraft engines, gas turbines, nuclear power station equipment and marine equipment, has invested heavily in tackling key technological problems.

“We have injected 1.6 billion yuan ($237.2 million) in R&D over the past five years because we believe only sufficient input can generate our own IP rights,” said Ding Bangman, vice-president of Yingliu Group. “It’s easy to buy equipment, but very hard to solve the technological problems and grasp the core technologies.”

One of their products is a reactor coolant pump, a key component used in nuclear reactors to shield main pumps. It took the researchers five years to work out and the work cost 80 million yuan, he said.

“We are very proud we can make such a product. The company has applied for more than 30 patents and all technologies are self possessed,” he noted.

On the afternoon of October 10, the first batch of enterprises in Wuhu Area of China (Anhui) Pilot Free Trade Zone finished the registration formalities and issued their business license, which officially opened the work of attracting talents, business and funds in Wuhu Free Trade Area. There are a total of 34 enterprises this time, mainly including export-oriented enterprises and manufacturing enterprises from Jiujiang District and Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone.

At present, for registered enterprises in Wuhu free trade area, the ambition of “Internet access and one day to complete” has been realized. Through Wuhu Intelligent Examination and Approval System of Anhui Administrative Service Network, applicants can submit relevant registration information online at any time. If materials are complete, the license can be issued on the same day, and the application can be delivered by free mail. The municipal market supervision department also opened “Service Windows” in municipal government service center, Jiujiang District and Wuhu Economic Development Zone, paving the “green channel” for enterprises.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government