“Accelerating the building of western China economic center will facilitate the transformation of Chengdu as a national central city, while building Chengdu into a western economic center receives strong and real support.” Prof. Ruan told the journalist. “First of all, located in the southwest China, Chengdu is the financial center designated by the State Council, and the financial institutions in Chengdu are superior in numbers, varieties and openness, and the size of its financial market also ranks first in the region of southwest China. As is revealed by the 2015 China Financial Center Index, the comprehensive competitiveness of Chengdu ranks first in the Midwest and sixth nationwide. According to the latest data, the deposit of domestic and foreign currencies in the financial institutions at Chengdu reached 3.24 trillion Yuan by the end of June 2016, with a year-on-year growth of 11.2%, top in the Midwest region with respect to the growth of deposits. And the loan of domestic and foreign currencies reached 2.44 trillion Yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 11.8%, also ranking the first in loan increase. Now, Chengdu has 1,800 plus formal and yet-to-be-accredited financial institutions, and the financial industry maintains a good momentum of development. . Meanwhile, the business district harboring the Chengdu finance headquarter, with a planned area of 5.1 square kilometers, is rising sharply under the construction standard of “first-class in China and leading in the West China”.

According to Ruan, Chengdu enjoys high level of economic development in western inland region of China. “In 2015, the GDP in Chengdu reached 1.08 trillion Yuan, 1/3 higher than Sichuan Province, which ranked ninth in the GDP charter of Chinese cities. Chengdu is also the world’s key base for electronic information industry, and the national industrial base for new industrialization, new energy and new materials. In addition, Chengdu enjoys a good environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, which has been granted the national innovation and reform pilot site, experimental unit of national innovative city, and it has also been approved as the national independent innovation demonstration zone and state pilot city for service trade innovation. Chengdu’s strong economic power and higher level of industrial development lay a solid foundation for building itself into a national central city.”

Furthermore, the level of openness in Chengdu is much higher than many other inland cities China. “By the end of 2015, 268 corporations among global top 500 businesses have opened branches in Chengdu, and 10 more Global Top 500 companies have entered the market of Chengdu this year. Thus, the number of Global Top 500 that settled down in Chengdu reaches 278. I believe the number will keep increasing in the future.” Ruan is confident in Chengdu’s economic prospects.

“The planning and layout map released during the seventh plenary session of 12th Chengdu Municipal Committee is conducive to establishing the modern industrial system in Chengdu and building it into an economic center in West China. Gaining a new historical starting point, Chengdu is more confidence, and we are looking forward to a satisfying ‘Chengdu pattern’ of Chinese economy.” He said, “For example, industrial economy is the core of real economy, and the foundation of a prosperous city, it is also the primary and driving force for the regional economic and social developments. Upholding the guiding theory of “industry sets the foundation”, the city has thoroughly implemented the 2025 Made-in-Chengdu Planning and the Reinforcement of Industrial Base Initiative, which focuses on its advantageous industries (electronic information and automobile etc.) and strategic emerging industries (rail transit, aerospace and biomedicine etc.), it also puts great efforts on new economies, represented by internet industry. And all these industries will boost the development of industry chains and clusters, and thus incubate trillion-level industry clusters.” In his view, all these activities will internalize as the driving force for building Chengdu into the western economic center and a national central city.

Note:
This article represents only the author’s personal point of view and it first appeared in Chengdu Daily at https://www.cdrb.com.cn/html/2016-09/13/content_47378.htm