Zhanjiang mayor lays out his vision for his city

Wang Zhongbing, right, mayor of Zhanjiang, describes his vision to Joey Catanzaro, a China Daily reporter who is hosting a documentary tentatively titled Out of the Blue Sea, Zhanjiang, at Jinshawan, a popular downtown beach in the southern Chinese city, on May 12, 2015. [Photo by Zhang Xiao for China Daily]

Wang Zhongbing, mayor of Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, uses five English words that start with the letter "b" to describe his city: blue, beach, bay, ( naval) base and brilliant. He calls it "the five Bs city".

Wang, a fluent English speaker, laid out a vision for Zhanjiang when answering questions from Joey Catanzaro, a China Daily reporter who is hosting a documentary tentatively titled Out of the Blue Sea, Zhanjiang.

Mayor Wang points to the long history the city has held in opening up to the outside world. Over 2,000 years ago, it was a departure point for those who sailed to Southeast Asia for trade.

More recently, the city was one of the first to open in the 1980s when economic reform and opening up was adopted. Now, with the "One Belt, One Road" national strategy, Zhanjiang is again poised to take off.

Even though much of the investment in the city is local or domestic, Wang predicts that "more and more foreigners and foreign companies will come here to find opportunities" because it is very "open" and it also offers "a best window to understanding China". He promises that the city government will adopt more business-friendly policies for foreign investment.

Currently there are two mammoth projects under construction on Donghai Island in suburban Zhanjiang. One is by Baosteel and the other by Sinopec. The mayor attributes the investment partly to the deep-water harbor in Zhanjiang Bay.

"Baosteel has to import iron ore and other raw materials from countries like Australia and Brazil," he said. "And the big ships can sail directly into the harbor" and dock next to the plants.

The mayor setthe goal for his city to be a "pivot city" for "One Belt, One Road". He wants the city and its government to be "innovation-driven", to use the "pivot" to not only grow the local economy but also insure a green environment.

"Green" is a word he uses very often. State-of-the-art technologies are deployed for the industrial giants to minimize emissions from polluting the environment. An initiative by the city government has been put in place to encourage people to use public transportation or ride bicycles. Even a "green corridor" was built for that purpose.

The ultimate goal for the mayor is to improve living conditions for the city's eight million residents, with everyone having access to equal opportunities in business, education and healthcare. "We've made a balance between the rural area and urban area," he said."While our economy grows bigger and bigger, our environment will be the same, or even better" and "people will have high confidence in their future."