Q&A | Yao Linrong

Yao Linrong was interviewed by China Daily about Zhangjiagang's strategy for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period.

We've learned about all the adjustments that Zhangjiagang is making to adapt to the changing realities in the last few years. But to talk about the future, say several years from now, what can you share with us?

Several years from now we will be in the middle of the nation's 13th Five-Year Plan. What I can tell you is that we're very serious about it. We've asked a think tank in Shanghai to help us draw up the guidelines for our city's local social and economic development.

So Zhangjiagang is already making its local 13th Five-Year Plan. What will be its overarching guideline?

There's one basic thing that's not going to change. Our strategic focus will continue to be where we are - with all the business coming to our port along the great Yangtze River, and all the opportunities evolving around Shanghai. But now that the whole country is in transition, our city is bound to see many new changes.

Such as?

First of all, we'll see more reforms. Zhangjiagang is introducing new methods to facilitate its economic growth, hosting a number of the national-level projects. Most noticeably, Zhangjiagang has been chosen as one of the three bases for China's pilot program for tariff-free zones, part of the country's financial-service reform.

We're proud of being part of the pilot program, because it has lifted our city's importance.

Zhangjiagang was once a national champion in developing traditional manufacturing industries, such as the production of steel and textiles. How is its industrial landscape going to change?

We'll see new industries. Whether they are entirely new or transform from our existing industries, they will feature more technological power and more high value-added operations.

What can we expect to see in social development?

We'll see more innovative methods in managing society other than what we already have, such as self-governance at the community level.

What will be the central concern of the city's social policies?

The population.

First, we need to stabilize the size of our population. The number of people with a Zhangjiagang hukou (household registration) is more than 900,000, while the number of migrant workers on long-term employment contracts is about 700,000. Fully integrating those migrant workers into our city will help stabilize the development of the city's many industries.

The next step, we hope, will be to steadily increase the inbound migration of highly skilled workers and high-quality professionals. What progress can we make without the right human resources? In fact, we've already turned down some business proposals, however attractive they sounded, on the grounds that we don't have the matching local human resources.

At the same time, a rather serious problem we are facing is the aging of the population, which already accounts for more than 20 percent of the hukou population. We need more inbound migration, as I said. And we need a steady revenue stream to finance all the services required by the retired population.

How is the issue of population to be addressed in the city's 13th Five-Year Plan?

Well, so far, so good. We have some local policies at work. But the city government will have to work more closely with our competitive enterprises and flourishing communities, to make our social programs sustainable.

(China Daily European Weekly 10/22/2015 page2)