In this February, the State Council has officially approved the new city positioning of Guangzhou as the capital city of Guangdong province, national historical and cultural city, important central city of China, international business and trading center and comprehensive transport hub .... In the future, Guangzhou will strengthen cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao and grow into an important hub on the 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road and Nansha FTZ of China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone will be built into the demonstration zone of intensive cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong and Macao.

 

Centering on the goals of building Guangzhou into an important central city, the three international “hubs” of Guangzhou will support the future of the “center”.

 

Nansha Port

 

Nansha New Area “International Shipping Hub” sets sail

 

Nansha New Area, located at the southernmost end of Guangzhou, the estuary of the Pearl River as Guangzhou’s only watercourse to the sea, is the geographic center and hub of the city agglomeration of the Greater Pearl River Delta. On April 21, 2015, Nansha New Area, Qianhai in Shenzhen and Hengqin in Zhuhai, witnessed the official opening of China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Aiming at the international shipping hub, Nansha New Area sets sail.

 

“I like Nansha as sharks love the sea and the eagles love the sky,” said Long Xuesong, former “coal mine owner”, born in Jincheng, Shanxi Province, when he registered 34 companies (associations) on the cross-border goods exhibition, parallel automobile import and shipping financial leasing and so on in Nansha New Area to build a huge platform named “Bailu Headquarters”. As of April 20, 2016, Nansha New Area has witnessed 10,802 newly established enterprises, newly registered capital of RMB111.3 billion, settlement of 50 Fortune 500 corporations, showing momentum of agglomeration of shipping, logistics, innovation finance, financial leasing, cross-border e-commerce and other industries.

 

More “Nansha Modes” have taken shape in facilitating investment and customs clearance and trading: “joint handling of 11 certificates and three seals”, the first government procurement inspection service, customs rapid inspection and release mechanism, “smart inspection port” and international trade “single window” V2.0 etc.

 

To build an international shipping hub, growing the port stronger is critical. In a single year, Nansha Port Phase III, with six 100,000t container berths, have been completed and available for anchoring of the world’s largest container ship. And Nansha has completed 28 inland dry ports, with totaling 74 international lines, launched the construction of the cruise port and opened lines to Hong Kong, Sanya, Da-Nang and Miyakojima. In 2015, Nansha Port handled 11.77 million TEUs, ranking the 12^th in the world. Meanwhile, the shipbuilding industry in Nansha New Area also enjoys a bright future. In the 13^th Five-Year Plan period, China State Shipbuilding Corporation will invest RMB15 billion in constructing the marine equipment industrial base in Nansha Longxue, which will base on Guangzhou and influence Beibu Gulf and the Southeast Asia.

 

Baiyun “International Air Hub” ready to come out

 

The fresh seafood captured in Australia can be shipped to Baiyun International Airport within 36 hours and reach the seafood market within 12 hours after the procedures of customs inspection, frontier inspection and quarantine. The comprehensive bonded area of Baiyun International Airport is the largest airport bonded area of China and has more than 260 enterprises, covering the logistics, warehousing, distribution, cross-border e-commerce, processing and customs declaration agency etc.

 

“To engage in the international competition, Guangzhou must accumulate the high-end elements at the global industrial chain, innovation chain and value chain. The international air hub is an important resource, platform and carrier of building Guangzhou into a central city,” said Ren Xuefeng, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and secretary of the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee. 

 

The lines are growing denser and logistics industry increasingly developed.

 

At 7:30am, May 7, an airliner of Finnair from Helsink arrived Baiyun International Airport. Up to now the airport has 72 airline companies, including 47 foreign airline companies, and opened more than 270 air routes, including more than 100 international air routes, and more than 70 international destinations. Terminal 2 and supporting facilities are being constructed. Moreover, Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines Group has 180 airplanes in Guangzhou, and connecting the city with more than 141 cities across the world. Guangdong Branch of China Eastern Airlines has been successfully settled in Baiyun, and planed to increase the airplanes in service to 30 in the 13^th Five-Year Plan period.

 

In January this year, Administrative Measures for Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone was promulgated, delineating 116 square kilometers of Baiyun District as the main development zone of the airport economic zone. In the future, the airport economic zone will accelerate agglomeration and development of the airport-based industries and first start construction of China-Australia-New Zealand- South Korea Free Trade Industrial Park, Guangzhou Airport Cross-Border E-Commerce Cluster and Valuables Distribution and Trading Center. At present FedEx Asia Pacific Center, EMS South China Center and Guangzhou International Airport R&F Integrated Logistics Park have settled here and Baiyun International Airport will increase the annual cargo handling capacity to 1.5 million tons. “In the future, it only takes 20 minutes from the airport to downtown Guangzhou and only one hour to the Pearl River Delta, significantly improving the regional influence,” said Sun Xiuqing, director of the Administrative Committee of Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone.

 

Although it is faster to travel by air, the land transportation has also developed quickly. On the basis of the existing nine metro lines, 13 railways, high-speed railways and inter-city railways, Guangzhou has planed to build railways from Guangzhou to Hainan, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Yunnan (Southeast Asia), Beijing, Shanghai, Macao and Hong Kong, and 11 metro lines which measure 303km in total. When these projects are completed, Guangzhou will become a hub on the strategic passages to northwest of east Guangdong, Beibu Gulf, Southwest China, Southeast China and the Yangtze River Delta.

 

Guangzhou International Scientific and Technological Innovation Hub grows rapidly

 

In the large welding workshop, rows of smart rail cars are working properly.... On April 18, GAC Fiat factory with annual output of 160,000 Jeep Renegade was officially put into production. And TRUMPCHE GA8, in which GAC Fiat has invested RMB1.08 billion in research and development and which represents the highest car manufacturing level of China, rolled out.

 

“Against the automobile overcapacity in the world, we have at least four models selling hotly every year thanks to our independent innovation. All models have been rated C-NCAP 5-star crash test safety rating by China Automotive Technology & Research Center and the core technologies of important spare parts, car control system and new energy are in our possession,” said Wu Song, general manager of GAC Motor. As No.1 pillar industry of Guangzhou, GAC Motor is predicted to contribute RMB500 billion to the municipal GDP.

 

While the traditional industries are revitalizing, the emerging types of businesses are thriving. In 2015, Guangzhou has 879 cross-border e-commerce companies, and the cross-border e-commerce import and export reached RMB6.85 billion, ranking the first in terms of the size in China. Tianhe-2 supercomputer in Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center ranks the world’s first for six consecutive years in terms of the computing speed and offers typical application services for more than 660 customers. The industrial robots and smart equipment industry have more than 20 production, R&D and integrated application enterprises, with total output value amounting to nearly RMB40 billion. Guangzhou Shangpin Home Furnishing, Suofeiya, Oppein and Comagic have become the benchmark of the furniture customization industry of China.

 

“This year the fiscal input in the scientific and technological innovation will reach RMB1 billion, two times of that in the previous year,” said Chen Zhiying, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Guangzhou Development District (GDD) and secretary of the CPC Huangpu District Committee. GDD (Huangpu District) will serve as the main engine of Guangzhou’s efforts of building an international scientific and technological innovation center and the core area of the independent innovation demonstration area of the Pearl River Delta. At present GDD (Huangpu District) has four innovation development platforms in the area of less than 500 square kilometers, namely Sino-Singapore (Guangzhou) Knowledge City, Guangzhou Science City, Guangzhou International Bio-Island, and Huangpu Port Economic Zone. Pazhou Internet Innovation Cluster which is close to Canton Fair has risen as a new force and successfully attracted Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi Technology and other leading Internet giants to settle in. On May 27, 2016 China Innovation and Startup Achievement Exchange was held, exhibiting more than 1,700 innovation and startup achievements. In order to encourage the public entrepreneurship and innovation, China Association for Science and Technology decided to settle the meeting in Guangzhou and make it an annual event.

 

“Construction of a central city cannot be separated from the high-quality talents. At the beginning of the year, we have released the most preferential innovation and startup pacemaker support plan. We have confidence in the business startup, innovation and development in Guangzhou.” Wen Guohui, mayor of Guangzhou, is confident in the future of the city. 

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, June 12, 2016