Growth model change needed
Despite Tianjin's strong economic performance in recent years, including being among the first group of China's provincial-level regions to exceed the $10,000 per capita GDP threshold, meaning that it belongs to a high-income economy based on the 2013 World Bank standard, the deadly explosions at a warehouse storing chemicals have exposed a series of vulnerabilities behind Tianjin's rapid economic growth.
The emergency response to the disaster demonstrates that fast-growing Tianjin is still a developing city that urgently needs to raise its governance capability.
The information disclosed already indicates that the blasts were by no means just an industrial accident, the loopholes involving the storage and management of dangerous chemicals that have been revealed show it was only a matter of time before a disaster occurred.
