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Exciting and hard journey

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-30 07:45

Shanghai has been jubilant in the past few days after the State Council endorsed its plan to become an international financial and global shipping hub by 2020, thereby underpinning the country's international economic influence and currency status.

The excitement surrounding it is well grounded, too.

About 16 years ago, no one would have foreseen that the newly born Pudong New Area program would transform previous farmland into the locomotive of the city's economic growth and the centerpiece of the country's opening up and subsequent role in globalization.

Although next year's World Expo has given the city a major boost, Shanghai is still struggling to find new growth engines for post-Expo years.

The so-called "dragon head" of the Yangtze Delta is running out of land resources and bogged down vying with other cities in the region for foreign investment.

Economic structures and priorities are more or less the same for all these cities.

The much-anticipated green light will help Shanghai emerge from this tight rat race.

It will allow it to integrate the region's fast-expanding port facilities, which have so far engaged in wasteful and unhealthy competition.

Naturally Shanghai will gain an edge on several other Chinese cities also striving to become national and international financial or shipping centers.

But Rome was not built in a day.

Making such a center is a much more arduous task than the grand Pudong program.

It requires Shanghai to plan everything with both the nation and the world in mind. Ultimately, it will be a center that serves the nation and the whole world.

Hurdles are many.

Administrative barriers in the Yangtze Delta still stand in the way of combining the region's resources.

Problems stemming from a dearth of professionals well versed in international finance and shipping, good service and solid infrastructure won't be solved in a few years.

Our currency is still not convertible. Major Chinese banks are still headquartered in Beijing, making Shanghai a place only to take orders and not to make decisions.

Legal and financial systems are still far from compatible with other global financial and shipping centers such as New York, London and Hong Kong.

So far there have been more celebrations and excitement in Shanghai than other parts of the country.

But for a national strategy to succeed, the host city, Shanghai, should promote the "two centers" angle more aggressively and convince domestic rivals the scheme also serves their best interests.

The central government must also throw its full weight behind the project to clear obstacles that demand the highest level of authorization.

After all, an international center in finance and shipping would benefit the whole nation for many years to come.

(China Daily 03/30/2009 page4)