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opportunity-china.co.uk
December 2014
China is experiencing a spate of “urban blights,”
including increased congestion, air pollution
and rocketing real estate prices, as a result of
the country’s rapid process of industrialisation,
population growth andmigration flows. The capital,
Beijing, is in a development dilemma because
of these urban blights. President Xi Jinping has
asked Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin and Hebei
to coordinate their development for the purpose of
regional integration.
A
ccording to President Xi, Beijing, neighbouring
Tianjinmunicipality andHebei Province should
coordinate in city planning, environmental
protection, and industrial andmarket integration
to build a functioning urban agglomeration.
Xi says local governments need to adopt amore sharing
and cooperative approachwith ecological cooperation being
highlighted by planting shelter forests, preservingwater and
tapping clean energy as the three regions are often engulfed
by heavy smog.
The policy, whichhas been redrafted a number of times
since its conception in 2004, is designed to explore new
urbanisationmodels, given that Beijing is struggling to cope
with issues causedby excessivemigration into the city. Lack
of industrial and infrastructure support has left many regions
aroundBeijing as “sleeping cities,” with commuters shuttling to
Beijing for work and play, returning to their homes only in the
evening to rest.
But regional integration is also being interpreted as away
for policymakers to guidemigrants intomedium and small
sized cities, and drive people out of overcrowdedmega cities.
Ultimately, this results inBeijing trying tomove low value added
industries into neighbouring provinces and regions.
WenKui, former president of the Capital University of Economics and
Business and senior researcher in the fields of economics and economic reform
inChina, suggests that Beijing seek integrated development withneighbouring
Hebei Province and Tianjinmunicipality, in order to get out of the trouble that the
city has found itself in.
“Part of Beijing’s city function should be diverted,” claimsWen. “However,
this doesn’t mean a simple transfer of (the city’s) local heavy polluting
enterprises, whichBeijing’s neighbours would also find to be an unwelcome
addition. A precondition to achieving regional integration and coordinated
development betweenBeijing, Tianjin andHebei province is for each party to
gain a good understanding of each other’s needs, rather than considering chiefly
its own interests.”
IsRegional Integration
theCure?
Low-endbusinesses
inBeijing should
be relocated.
However, low-end
businessesdonot
simply refer toheavily
pollutingenterprises.
“People always think that there is a conflict between the
floating population and the benefits of local residents. Actually,
this is a problem of a shortage of provisions rather than over-
demand. The influx of migrants to the big cities is a natural
process during urbanisation anddevelopment. The right policy
for the government tomake is increase the supply rather than
control population growth,” Lu explained.
Rather than championing policies designed to phase out
the hukou system, Lu highlights the flaws in the provision and
supply of public services, which are variables determinedby
the estimation of future growth, and the inability of cities to
control population growth aftermaking such determinations.
As Lu explains, “Inbig cities likeBeijing and Shanghai, the
problem is the estimation of future population growth is always underestimated
because they don’t want the big cities to grow bigger. But actually, they don’t
have very effectivemeasures to control the population growth. So, finally, after
maybe ten years you’ll find that there is a great gap between the supply of public
services and the demand.”
“Sowhat is wrong? You cannot say the influx of population is wrong; that is
the result of economic development because you need them to come in to be the
labour supply for yourmanufacturing and services. What’s wrong is the provision
of public services. Now, the right policy is to invest more in schools and hospitals
and of course also infrastructure, rather than control population growth.”
Ultimately, increased investment in things like healthcare, infrastructure and
education is vital but the inefficiency and corruption of the hukou system could
hamper the progress of such investment and therefore needs to be addressed in
order to finally roll out the red carpet to China’s floating population.
