What message does Xi Jinping's Shanghai visit send?
Good morning! I spent the weekend reviewing some of the key aspects of Xi Jinping's recent inspection tour in Shanghai. You may notice a slightly different format in today's newsletter, as I am striving to make it more concise and readable, just as I mentioned last time.
However, I understand that some readers prefer the full version, so I'll try to balance these two approaches. I'm currently in a trial phase, so if you like today's style, please leave a comment or give a thumbs up. If you don't, feel free to share your reasons. Thank you!
What happened?
Chinese President Xi Jinping made an inspection tour in east China's Shanghai from Tuesday to Saturday. This is Xi’s first visit to Shanghai in three years.
Xi on Thursday chaired a symposium on advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), three years later after one was convened in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province.
[Note: Covering a 358,000-square km expanse, the Yangtze River Delta, consisting of Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, taking up only 4 percent of China's land area and less than 10 percent of the population, contributes about 25 percent of the country's total GDP. It is one of the most vibrant, open and innovative city clusters in China.]
On Friday morning, Xi was briefed on the city's work by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Shanghai Municipal Committee and the Shanghai municipal government.
On his return journey to Beijing on Sunday, Xi visited a memorial hall of the New Fourth Army in Yancheng, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province.
Xi made remarks while chairing a symposium on advancing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta on Thursday.
Where did Xi go?
During his trip, Xi inspected the Shanghai Futures Exchange, an exhibition on Shanghai's sci-tech innovations at the 张江科学城 "Zhangjiang Science City", and a government-subsidized rental housing community in Minhang District.
The above three places on Apple Maps are marked out by GRR based on information from Xinhua News Agency, which may not be the exact locations, but for your reference only.
According to Xinhua, he learned about the city's efforts in strengthening its competitiveness as an international financial center, building the city into an international sci-tech innovation center, and constructing government-subsidized rental housing projects.
Xi Jinping inspects the Shanghai Futures Exchange in east China's Shanghai
What were some overseas China watchers' expectations on Xi's visit?
Xi’s visit to Shanghai, the gateway city for foreign businesses and capital entering the mainland, has heightened expectations among economic watchers that Beijing would further liberalize its consumer and financial markets to boost the world’s second-largest economy.
“Shanghai remains an economic locomotive for China because of its link with the foreign markets via the ports and airports,” said Ding Haifeng, a consultant at Shanghai financial advisory firm Integrity. “Inflow of capital and talent will eventually benefit the development of the YRD.”
Xi’s First Shanghai Visit Since 2020 Showcases Tech, Finance -- Bloomberg
The trip is also likely to be viewed as a signal of China’s determination to reinvigorate investor confidence as the nation’s post-pandemic recovery continues to struggle.
What did Xi say during the inspection?
Xi stressed the need to 加快建设“五个中心” speed up building Shanghai into a modern, socialist and international metropolis by focusing on the construction of international centers of economy, finance, trade, shipping and sci-tech innovation.
[Note: By 2025, Shanghai's expenditure on research and development is expected to account for around 4.5 percent of the city's gross domestic product, according to a city plan. It also aims to host more than 26,000 high-tech enterprises and about 560 foreign-funded research and development centers by 2025.]
Xi urged Shanghai to accelerate building itself into a modern, socialist and international metropolis with global influence, and play a leading and exemplary role in advancing 中国式现代化 Chinese modernization.
Xi stressed that Shanghai should comprehensively deepen reform and opening-up from a higher starting point, urging the city to devote significant energy to promoting pioneering reform and opening-up on all fronts. 【The part in the Chinese readout: 习近平强调，上海作为我国改革开放的前沿阵地和深度链接全球的国际大都市，要在更高起点上全面深化改革开放，增强发展动力和竞争力。】
When visiting the Shanghai Futures Exchange, Xi urged the exchange to speed up the construction of a world-class exchange, and make greater contributions to exploring the futures regulatory system and business model with Chinese characteristics and building an international financial center.
When visiting Zhangjiang Science City in the Pudong New Area, Xi said promoting Chinese modernization can not be separated from the strategic support of science and technology, education and talent, and that Shanghai should take a lead in this respect.
When visiting a residential community in Minhang District that is dedicated to providing affordable rental housing for new urban dwellers, young people and frontline workers, Xi said he was pleased to see city builders from all over the country living and working here with joy and contentment. Migrant workers who come to make contributions in Shanghai are also masters of the city, he said.
What is the message?
Xinhua released an article on Thursday titled “At a Critical Moment, General Secretary Xi Jinping's Visit to Shanghai Sends an Important Signal," emphasizing three key points showed by Xi's visit: China's financial industry should better serve the real economy; the key of Chinese-style modernization lies in the modernization of science and technology; urban development should adhere to a people-centered approach.
The integrated development of the YRD has been a national strategy for five years. From 扎实推进 "solid progress" to 深入推进 "continuous efforts", this year's meeting not only summarized the major breakthroughs made in the past several years, but also set out a development blueprint for the next phase, according to an article posted on Friday titling "Three Years, Two Symposiums: Guiding High-Quality Development in the Yangtze River Delta" on 时事报告 Report on Current Affairs, a WeChat blog of a magazine of the same name under the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.
The piece on Report on Current Affairs says that the YRD's coordinated development was an important decision made when China's economy was shifting towards a phase of high-quality growth. It will become the pacesetter of national high-quality development in the new era, helping improve the overall layout of China's reform and opening-up and creating strong growth momentum.
Below is Xinhua's English summary of the full-text Chinese readout on Xi's inspection in Shanghai which was published on Sunday. I put it here in case any of you want to read it：
Xinhua Headlines-Xi Focus: Xi stresses expediting building Shanghai into modern socialist int'l metropolis
SHANGHAI/YANCHENG, Jiangsu, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the need to speed up building Shanghai into a modern, socialist and international metropolis by focusing on the construction of international centers of economy, finance, trade, shipping and sci-tech innovation.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection tour in Shanghai that ran from Tuesday to Saturday.
Xi urged Shanghai to accelerate building itself into a modern, socialist and international metropolis with global influence, and play a leading and exemplary role in advancing Chinese modernization.
He inspected the Shanghai Futures Exchange on Tuesday afternoon as soon as he got off a train.
Xi urged the exchange to speed up the construction of a world-class exchange, and make greater contributions to exploring the futures regulatory system and business model with Chinese characteristics and building an international financial center.
When visiting Zhangjiang Science City in the Pudong New Area, Xi said promoting Chinese modernization can not be separated from the strategic support of science and technology, education and talent, and that Shanghai should take a lead in this respect.
On Wednesday afternoon, Xi visited a residential community in Minhang District that is dedicated to providing affordable rental housing for new urban dwellers, young people and frontline workers.
Xi said he was pleased to see city builders from all over the country living and working here with joy and contentment.
Migrant workers who come to make contributions in Shanghai are also masters of the city, he said.
On Friday morning, Xi was briefed on the city's work by the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and the Shanghai municipal government.
Xi noted that accelerating the construction of Shanghai as international centers of economy, finance, trade, shipping and sci-tech innovation is an important task entrusted to the city by the CPC Central Committee.
Xi stressed that Shanghai should intensify its research to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, boost the transformation and upgrading of its traditional industries, and continuously enhance its status as an international center of economy and its influence in global economic governance.
More efforts should be made to promote high-level financial opening-up to better serve the real economy, sci-tech innovation, and the joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said.
He noted that the city should implement its strategy of upgrading its pilot free trade zone in full, promote the development of the international trade center, and enhance its capability of global allocation of shipping resources.
Xi stressed that Shanghai should comprehensively deepen reform and opening-up from a higher starting point, urging the city to devote significant energy to promoting pioneering reform and opening-up on all fronts.
Shanghai should also foster a world-class business environment, stimulate the vitality of various business entities, and strengthen its attractiveness to high-end resources at home and abroad, he noted.
Xi pointed out that Shanghai should explore a new path of modernization in megacity governance with Chinese characteristics, and that improving people's living standards and well-being is the original aspiration and ultimate goal of urban construction and governance.
He highlighted efforts to deepen culture-related institutional reforms and invigorate the innovation and creativity of culture.
Noting that Shanghai is the birthplace of the Communist Party of China, Xi emphasized the importance of making good use of local resources to carry forward the great founding spirit of the Party and build a team of high-caliber, professional officials that matches the standards of a modern, socialist and international metropolis.
On his return journey to Beijing on Sunday, Xi visited a memorial hall of the New Fourth Army in Yancheng, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province.
Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the CPC Central Committee general office, was also on the inspection tour. Enditem
Thank you. In the West, we cannot afford to ignore China's amazing economic growth. Thank you for your rendering of Xi Jingping's visit to Shanghai and the whole Delta region. Greetings from New Zealand. Regards Richard Wheeler
I like the concise format. So much to read and so little time. :)