Opinion

Key regions should play their role as growth poles

To refine China’s regional economic layout and promote coordinated regional development, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized that efforts should be made to “ensure that key regions play their role as growth poles.” It will enable regions to leverage their complementary strengths in pursuit of high-quality development.

Regional growth poles serve as vital drivers for promoting regional economic development, as they combine economic scale with spillover effects. In 2024, 27 cities in China achieved a regional GDP exceeding RMB one trillion each. These cities, with their factor concentration, vibrant innovation, and high levels of openness, are well-positioned to drive the coordinated development of surrounding areas.

To refine regional economic layout, it is essential to support key regions in strengthening and expanding their leading industries, fostering industrial clusters with international competitiveness. Meanwhile, it is also important to promote industrial transfer and establish closer collaborative relationships for innovation between key regions and neighboring areas. It will help optimize the regional division of labor system.

We should give full play to the synergies between the coordinated regional development strategy, major regional strategies, the functional zoning strategy, and the new urbanization strategy. These strategies are interconnected and mutually reinforcing, forming an organic whole. Efforts should also be made in strengthening overall coordination to create synergistic effects, and in promoting differentiated development to foster complementary advantages.

Policy

1. The National Development and Reform Commission on November 10 rolled out a guideline to enhance the consumption and regulation of new energy in China. According to the guideline, a new power system capable of accommodating a high share of new energy should be established by 2035, with further improvement in new energy consumption and regulation systems.

2. China is seeking to drive high-quality economic development by exploring further application scenarios for new technologies and products, according to guidelines released by the National Development and Reform Commission. The guidelines have specified efforts to explore and develop new application scenarios on the digital economy and artificial intelligence; industrial transformation and upgrading in sectors such as manufacturing and transport; and industries such as mining and emergency response.

3. China will strengthen investment support and encourage private enterprises to build a number of major pilot-scale testing platforms with strong industry influence through integrated layouts in advanced manufacturing clusters and other areas, focusing on key sectors and industrial chains, the National Development and Reform Commission said on November 11.

Data

1. The 138th Canton Fair, known officially as China Import and Export Fair, came to a close on Nov. 4 in Guangzhou, the capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, having seen a record number of overseas buyers attend. This session has attracted over 310,000 overseas buyers from 223 countries and regions, marking a 7.5 percent increase compared to the previous session. The on-site intended export transactions at the Canton Fair reached USD 25.65 billion.

2. The World Openness Index, gauging the openness levels of 129 economies from 1990 to 2024, was released on Nov. 5 at the eighth Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai. The 2024 index was included in the World Openness Report 2025. Between 1990 and 2024, China's openness index advanced from 0.5891 to 0.7634, with its growth rate consistently ranking among the top globally.

3. In the first three quarters of this year, China’s cumulative grid-connected capacity of offshore wind power reached 44.61 million kilowatts, maintaining the world’s top position for four consecutive years.

4. According to the State Post Bureau, China’s express development index in October was 475.5, a year-on-year increase of 2.4 percent.

5. Data from the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing shows that global manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 49.7 percent in October, unchanged from the previous month, and has remained within the range of 49 percent to 50 percent for eight consecutive months.

6. China's foreign exchange reserves totaled USD 3.3433 trillion at the end of October, an increase of USD 4.7 billion, or 0.14 percent, from the end of September, official data showed on Nov. 7. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange stated that China’s stable economic foundation, multiple advantages, strong resilience, and significant potential are conducive to maintaining the basic stability of foreign exchange reserves.

7. China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, was up 0.2 percent year on year in October 2025, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Nov. 9. On a monthly basis, the CPI also rose 0.2 percent last month, according to this data. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased by 1.2 percent year-on-year - marking the sixth consecutive month of acceleration in growth pace. NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the consumer price increase last month to the continued effects of policies to expand domestic demand, coupled with the boosting impact of the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday period.

8. The 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit concluded on Nov 9 after completing all scheduled agenda items. More than 1,600 participants from over 130 countries and regions attended in person, discussing a brighter new vision for the digital and intelligent future.

9. The eighth China International Import Expo (CIIE) concluded on Nov. 10, having recorded USD 83.49 billion in one-year intended deals - up 4.4 percent from the previous edition and hitting a new high, according to the CIIE Bureau.

10. China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sector posted strong growth in production and sales in the first 10 months of 2025, according to industry data released on Nov. 11. In October alone, NEV sales reached nearly 1.72 million units, accounting for 51.6 percent of all new vehicle sales. This also marked the first time that NEV sales accounted for more than half of all new vehicle sales in the country.

(Source: Economic Daily)