Ever since the Binhai New Area was embodied into national development strategy, the expected identification of Tianjin in people’s mindset as the future economic center of North China has gradually come out of horizon.

The State Council endorsed “Tianjin Municipality Overall Planning (2005 to 2020)” on July 27, 2006, giving a clear definition to Tianjin’s identification and future position as an international harbor city, North China’s economic center and last but not least, an eco-friendly city suitable for human habitation in 15 years. Tianjin should be the center of circum-Bohai Bay region, and the Municipality should give priority to the development of its Binhai New Area.

The functional identification and positioning of Tianjin eventually orient the city’s future development. Together with the capital city Beijing, Tianjin is to lead the high-profiled development campaign of the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province economic circle and the overall circum-Bohai Bay region.

As a matter of fact, Tianjin was the second largest commercial metropolis in the history of China’s contemporary economic development. The city was almost as developed as Shanghai, in terms of commerce, trade, finance and shipping industry. When the People’s Republic of China was founded, Tianjin ranked the fifth in the overall economic size nationwide.

The nation decided to build Tianjin into China’s “key economic center of North China” in 1999. Seven years later in 2006, the country announced clearly that Tianjin is expected to be the “economic center of North China.” The Municipality’s development orientation has been further lifted up.

After the Binhai New Area was written into national development strategy, it was a confirmed and explicit signal from the State to earmark Tianjin as the future economic center of North China. It is an important message conveyed from the top Chinese authority.

From the perspective of regional economic development, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are engine cities, driving up the development of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. North China also needs an economically robust city, which can play similar roles as Shanghai, Shenzhen or Guangzhou within their economic circles.

The long-term development target of China is to quadruple its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2000 by 2020, with the per capita GDP reaching US$ 3,000. This target requires high-speed growth of the nation’s economy during the next decade. To fully drive up China’s economy, it is absolutely necessary to have a new growth engine, which is more powerful and influential.

Positioning Tianjin as the future economic center of North China is a key strategy to balance the economic gap between the North and South China, promoting balanced economic development and enhancing regional economic coordination.

Tianjin has been fully prepared to play such a role, equipped with sound economic and social fundamentals and conditions. It has become the largest coastal city adopting the market-oriented opening-up policy. Since the launch of the market-oriented economic reform, the municipality has achieved great progress, in terms of both social and economic development. The Municipality’s per capita GDP was very close to US$ 8,000 in 2008. More than 20,000 foreign enterprises have invested in Tianjin, with the accumulative overseas investment in place reaching US$37.6 billion.

More than one quarter of the World Top 500 enterprises have set up their branches in Tianjin. With aerospace and aviation, equipment manufacturing, electronics, petrochemical, bio-technology and modern pharmacy, alternative energy and new material, light industry and textile and national defense technology as eight pillar industries, Tianjin has become the most important modern manufacturing hub of North China.

Tianjin enjoys the advantages of good geological location, developed industrial layout and strong research and development (R&D) capability. After years’ construction and development, Tianjin has established its own comparative advantage, being a key logistics and air cargo transport hub of North China. Tianjin has grown into the most potentially robust economy nationwide, attracting investment from both home and abroad. It is expected for the circum-Bohai Bay region, led by Tianjin, to squeeze into the top three national economic engines, with the other two being the Yangtze and Pearl River Delta regions.