By Rui Hu, EDITOR

Accelerating the integration and development of Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration is urgent and necessary. It has become a consensus, and the pace of Sichuan and Chongqing's directions have obviously accelerated. In this regard, experts from the two places are highly appreciated the newly released plans on the two places.

Liu Shiqing Secretary-General of the Western Center of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, Sichuan Province Outstanding Contribution Expert, President of the Sichuan Urban Economics Association, Vice President of the Regional Economics Association, and Chairman of the Sichuan Property Rights Exchange Association.

Q: As one of the first experts to advocate cooperation between Sichuan and Chongqing, how do you evaluate the effectiveness of Sichuan-Chongqing collaboration in the past 20 years?

Liu: The two sides have achieved specific achievements in the areas of urban agglomeration development, adjacent regional cooperation, tourism and other industries, such as interconnection, coordination mechanism construction, and ecological, environmental protection, but they have been launched as a national-level strategy, and our plan is to promote the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Circle. Our steps are much slower. For example, the biggest bottleneck at present is transportation. Especially for rapid traffic development, the high-speed rail construction of Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration is lagging behind the eastern region, and the gap between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta is growing.

Q: What new opportunities are there for Sichuan and Chongqing to further promote cooperation?

Liu: First of all, from the basic conditions, we have the advantage of population and market size. Sichuan and Chongqing have a population of over 100 million, and population growth continues to “inflow mode,” especially in Chengdu and Chongqing. The accelerated population inflow trend continues unabated, which brings a scale effect basis for market scale, industrial development, and public facilities construction.

Second is the opportunity for national policies and national strategies. National strategies such as the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Western Development have brought significant opportunities for cooperation between Sichuan and Chongqing.

The third is to develop the foundation and development stage to promote the accelerated development of Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration. Data such as population, industry, and urban built-up areas show that the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration has entered an accelerated development stage. I believe that Chengyu City Group has outstanding advantages and development opportunities both in scale and growth.

Q: For the further advancement of cooperation between Sichuan and Chongqing, what advice do you have?

Liu: I want to highlight the automobile industry and information industry that Sichuan and Chongqing have all developed vigorously. I believe that the vigorous development of the automobile industry and the information industry in both places is a rational choice. We should not blame and entangle the problem of "isomorphism" but should work together to build a global industrial cluster. The mission of the two governments is to optimize the business environment and let the enterprises choose themselves, rather than worrying about a certain company or an industry going to the other side and not staying with me.

In addition, the “Belt and Road” and the Yangtze River Economic Belt are a broad and comprehensive regional concept. Not only does Chongqing have the advantages of the Yangtze River and important ports, but Chengdu also has many west and south passages. Now there are Central European trains in Sichuan and Chongqing. I believe that everyone should look at their respective advantages with an open mind, objectively examine their shortcomings, not to draw the ground for the prison, and not stand still, and the cooperation between the two sides can go a long way.

Pu Yongjian  Professor of Chongqing University, doctoral tutor, deputy director of Chongqing University Development Research Center, deputy dean of the Institute of Sustainable Development, Chongqing "Two Rivers Scholars" and "Bashan Scholars."

Q: According to the understanding of most people, the ultimate place for regional cooperation is industrial synergy. How do you think Sichuan and Chongqing should build industry collaboration?

Pu: If the existing industries of Sichuan and Chongqing are still accumulated, then there will be no major development in the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration. In the past gradient strategic thinking, the development of the west is basically based on the industrial transfer from the east. However, there are currently several problems with this strategy: 

First of all, most of the industries transferred from the east will be sunset industries, and they will not last long. Second, some industries transferred from the east are not conducive to the ecological environment protection in the west; Third, with the promotion and application of artificial intelligence in the eastern developed regions, the labor cost advantage in the west is weakened, and the incentives for industrial transfer in the east are weakened. Fourth, with the development of China's economy, the disappearance of the demographic dividend, the increase in labor costs in the west, the comparative advantage of labor costs in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the increase in the direction of industrial transfer in the east. Options outside the West; finally, the business environment in the West has yet to be improved and optimized.

I believe that Sichuan and Chongqing should be out of the basin consciousness, look at the development of the group from the big chess games in the country and the whole world, and plan the social and economic development orientation of the urban agglomerations from a longer-term future.

Q: What's your suggestion for better cooperation between Sichuan and Chongqing?

Pu: I believe that Chengyu City Group should strive to become China's basic scientific research center and become the ballast stone of China's long-term social and economic development.

The Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration in the west has the advantage of conducting basic scientific research compared to the fast-paced eastern region. At the same time, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, which has the best infrastructure and living environment in the west, is superior to other western regions in forming scientific centers.

The specific proposal is to seek the central government to set up the Western Academy of Sciences in the Chengdu-Chongqing city group. If the two countries cooperate in academic research, it is an area that is relatively easy to cooperate. In other words, Chengdu and Chongqing can first promote all-round cooperation through cooperation between universities and research institutions.

Intelligent science is one of the revolutionary breakthroughs in the future of basic scientific research. Chongqing is vigorously developing intelligent manufacturing, so it is necessary to lay out the China Basic Science Research Center in Chengdu-Chongqing City Group.

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