A dialogue between Chengdu, Xi'an on opening inland cities (2)

Inland located, but not inland minded

In January 2012, Xi'an declared at its 12th Party congress that "The city's growth in the coming five years will be characterized by the primary task of build an international metropolis".

Three months later, at Chengdu's Party congress, Party chief Huang Xinchu stressed in his report that "The city's goal in the coming period is to achieve preliminary modernization and internalization ahead of other cities in central and western China."

Why both cities deeply tucked away in the mainland set "internationalization" as their goals in the coming five years?

C: Sea transport, due to its large volume of freight, low fees and wide network of routes, has become an important support of globalized production and trade. Inland cities far away from seas have been facing the universal problem of high costs in transport and logistics. Under the backdrop of economic globalization and regional integration, Chengdu, if it fails to solve the problem, would continue to remain at the margin of national and global economy, and it is hard to achieve any leap.

X: For more than three decades since China's reform and opening up, inland cities have been under absolutely no restrictions for opening to the outside world. But the fact is they have long lagging behind in the depth, width and speed of merging with the world economy. Their urge for growth is equally strong as coastal cities', but for a long time they have been prohibited by physical conditions.

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