City seeks 'pioneer role' in Belt and Road Initiative

By Ju Chuanjiang | China Daily | Updated: 2015-11-18 07:50

As the national Belt and Road Initiative inspires more Chinese cities to go global, Yantai, a coastal city in Shandong province, is seeking a "pioneer" role on the international stage.

Experts predict that China's Belt and Road Initiative will become an important engine for driving regional development in the global environment.

"Cities are playing different roles in the initiative," said Meng Fanli, Party chief of Yantai. "Yantai will play a 'pioneer role' and seek more cooperation on the international stage."

The Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road released in March lists Yantai as one of 15 coastal cities along the Belt and Road. The Shandong provincial government regards Yantai as a city of strategic significance on the Belt and Road.

The city strategy is to develop Yantai into an onshore and offshore hub city, a marine economic city, a trade and investment cooperation model city and a demonstration city participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Yantai is one of China's earliest coastal cities to trade with overseas markets. The city's Dengzhou Port was one of the four largest ports in China in terms of foreign trade volume during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).

The city was also one of 14 Chinese cities that officially opened up to the world in 1984.

Zhou Bo, chairman of the Yantai Port Group, said Yantai Port has established trade relationships with more than 150 ports in 100 countries. The port's throughput reached 236 million metric tons last year and that amount is expected to reach 400 million tons by 2020.

The Yantai Port is becoming an international shipment hub for chemical energy, iron ore, fertilizer and containers, and a terminal for railway ferries and international cruises.

"The city is building a three-dimensional transport hub covering aviation, railways and shipment, in a bid to connect Yantai with countries along the maritime Silk Road," said Zhang Yongxia, mayor of Yantai.

Yantai Penglai International Airport, which opened on May 28, is designed to handle 10 million people every year.

A high-speed railway tunnel under the Bohai Sea connecting Yantai with Dalian in Liaoning province and a railway ferry service between Yantai and Incheon, South Korea, are to be built. Once completed, Yantai will be a transport hub that connects Asian and European countries.

Expanded cooperation

"Trade between Yantai and countries along the Belt and Road is increasing," said Yu Dong, head of the Yantai commerce bureau.

Last year, Yantai attracted 662 projects from 35 countries along the Belt and Road, involving foreign investment of $1.66 billion.

At present, Yantai has trade contacts with 64 countries along the Belt and Road. The city's foreign trade volume reached $5.25 billion for the first half of this year. Yantai has invested in 123 projects in 27 countries along the Belt and Road, including Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Uzbekistan. These projects cover the fields of infrastructure, energy, agricultural processing, park development and fisheries.

The city spent $960 million developing the first national-level financial and trade cooperation zone in Russia, focusing on forestry. The zone has attracted 19 enterprises.

The Sino-Hungarian Borsod Industrial Zone developed by Yantai Wanhua Group will involve a combined investment of $3 billion and has attracted 51 companies. Lurui Group invested $160 million developing a 3,100-hectare modern agricultural and industrial park in Cambodia, becoming a cooperation demonstration project between China and Cambodia.

According to the city plan, Yantai will build more than 20 industrial parks in countries along the Belt and Road during the next three years.

The city will encourage and support 300 enterprises to seek development in these overseas parks in the fields of textiles and garments, machinery manufacturing, modern chemicals, food processing, agriculture, fisheries, energy, automotives and electronics.

"Relying on Yantai's advanced manufacturing industry, the industrial parks in the Belt and Road countries will significantly upgrade the level of Yantai's global cooperation," Zhang said.

Taking local goods global

Walking through the industrial parks in Yantai, one can't help but notice the city's extraordinary manufacturing capacity.

"Many world-renowned high-tech products are made in Yantai and they are important supports for the city's international cooperation," said Wang Shiliang, director of the Yantai Development and Reform Commission.

These products include smartphones, large offshore oil drilling platforms, unmanned aircraft and marine wind turbines. They not only sharpen the city's competitiveness in the fields of aerospace, information technology, maritime biological medicine and new materials, but also win profitable overseas orders.

At Yantai Economic Development Zone, advanced production lines roll out 600,000 cars every year. The cars are sold in more than 20 countries and regions.

During the past five years, more than 180,000 cars were sold in overseas markets. The rapid development of the automobile industry has attracted more than 400 automobile and spare parts manufacturers. Combined output from the automobile cluster reached 150 billion yuan ($23.55 billion) last year.

At Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore Co, five huge offshore oil-drilling platforms for overseas clients are under production.

The D90 rig can reach 15,240 meters under the sea, more than 4,000 meters deeper than the Mariana Trench.

"With advanced products, our company has been listed among one of the four top international enterprises that can produce deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs," said Yu Ya, president of Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore.

To date, the company has produced nine deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs for overseas companies. Its products account for one-quarter of the global market.

The city's large ships and cruise ships are also tapping overseas markets.

The city predicts its marine equipment manufacturing capacity will this year reach 450,000 tons, ship manufacturing capacity to reach 1.2 million tons and output from marine high-end equipment manufacturing business to reach a value of 50 billion yuan.

"Made in Yantai" marine products have been sold to more than 30 countries and regions.

juchuanjiang@chinadaily.com.cn