State Council fosters city cluster around Chengdu and Chongqing

Editor's Note: Encouraged by the clustering effect of some of the country's coastal industrial towns, the Chinese central government has decided to build the Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster as a new economic power engine in the country's inland areas. In this Policy Review page, economic advisors suggest that proper coordination and cooperation will be needed to make the clustering program really work to replicate the success of the cities.

The central government's decision to foster a city cluster based around Chengdu and Chongqing, the two largest business cities in Southwest China, is expected to create a new growth engine for the country's sputtering economy, analysts have said.

But for the engine to work, a top-down coordination mechanism should be fashioned, they said.