Despite its advantages of access to a harbour and proximity to Beijing, Tianjin has been a relative laggard in its development, although the city will receive a strong boost from the implementation of the plan for the development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province. 

 

Over recent years, Tianjin has been eclipsed by the robust development of Beijing, which has become a sprawling city, acting as both a political and economic centre, although the development has overstrained its resources, as evidenced by the pollution problems and the massive traffic jams that plague the capital. 

 

Under the auspices of the plan, meant to achieve balanced development between Beijing and neighbouring areas, Beijing has reportedly signed agreements with Tianjin and Hebei to transfer some industries, including moving educational institutions, medical facilities, and hi-tech R&D centres to Tianjin and labour-intensive industries to Hebei. 

 

Li Yanjun, deputy research fellow at the Institute of Economic Research at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said that over recent years, Beijing's rapid economic development has failed to induce the development of neighbouring areas, leading to overstrained supply of resources and a heavy burden on the environment in the capital, according to Shanghai's National 

 

Business Daily. Beijing, for instance, has a harbour of its own in Hebei for shipment of its goods, rather than going through the nearby Tianjin Harbor, and has been lukewarm for quite a while in building highways and high-speed rails reaching Hebei and Tianjin. 

 

Guo Jinlong, communist party chief of Beijing, said that the capital will switch its focus to the development of an economy featuring high-end and cutting-edge technology, rather than a big and comprehensive economic system, adding that the city will shed some industries willingly. 

 

Sun Chunlan, communist party chief of Tianjin, said that Tianjin is ready to take over the first batch of some 100 industrial facilities from Beijing, as a prelude to larger and more promising transfers. 

 

Tianjin is pushing the development of a smart transportation network linking Beijing and Hebei, including a common transportation card that can be used on public buses, subways, light rail, and taxis in both Tianjin and Beijing. 

 

Zhang Zhiqiang, director of Tianjin Development and Reform Commission, said that Tianjin will seek to become an economic, shipping and logistics center, as well as a center for financial innovation and a operation hub for northern China, differentiating it from Beijing and Hebei. 

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