Qingdao’s Blueprint to Build The Belt and Road

For thousands of years， the Silk Road Spirit (“peace and cooperation， openness and inclusiveness， mutual learning and mutual benefit”) has been passed from generation to generation， promoted the progress of human civilization and contributed greatly to the prosperity and development of countries along the Silk Road.

Qingdao， in eastern Shandong Province on the east coast of China， as a pivot city of China’s Belt and Road Initiative， has been seeking ways to further develop in an aim to establish itself as a hub city which faces Japan and South Korea， radiates to Southeast Asia and connects with Central Asia and Europe through land.

Qingdao’s Endeavor to Construct the Belt and Road

China formulated a strategic plan to construct the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road in 2014 and positioned Qingdao not only as a major node city on the New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor but also as a strategic pivot point for maritime cooperation.

In response to that， Qingdao set up a consulting committee for the construction of the Belt and Road and the committee is composed of well-known members of the academic community and experts. Ocean University of China established a Belt and Road research institute and has carried out more than 30 research projects， actively playing a think-tank role for the construction of the Belt and Road.

Since 2014， Qingdao has conducted 39 economic and trade events in Singapore， Indonesia， South Korea and other countries. Qingdao has also established economic cooperation partnership with 57 cities or business institutions from countries such as Malaysia， Indonesia and Russia， while also signing strategic cooperation agreements with 20 financial institutions’ headquarters from home and abroad such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China， China Development Bank and DBS Bank.

The establishment of regularly scheduled flights from Qingdao to major cities along the Belt and Road such as Chongqing， Kunming， Chengdu and Xi’an has been further strengthened as well. Qingdao has opened four intercontinental direct flights to Frankfurt， San Francisco， Melbourne and Vancouver， respectively， while also jointly constructing transit bases for shipping-and-rail joint transport with Zhengzhou， Xi’an and Urumqi， forming a cross-border shipping-and-rail joint transport channel to connect Japan， South Korea， Southeast Asia and Central Asia. The inter-city railway from Qingdao to Rongcheng has opened for business， and a high-speed rail line from Jinan to Qingdao has begun construction.

By far， Qingdao has established sister city ties with 69 cities including Mannheim (Germany)， Kaya (Peru) and Salo (Finland). It also held the Belt and Road Summit for International Talents Cooperation， while also teaming up with China Radio International to broadcast a program introducing Qingdao in Chinese， English， German and French in more than 240 cities of over 160 countries. Qingdao has also held tourism promotion events in more than 20 countries and regions along the Belt and Road. The Committee of the Cruise Industry of the World Tourism Cities Federation has also set up a secretariat in Qingdao.

Qingdao During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period

During the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020)， the Port of Qingdao will participate in the operations and management of ports， piers and logistics parks along the Belt and Road， while also opening three new intercontinental direct flights to Sydney， Los Angeles and London， respectively. Qingdao will also speed up the construction of railways， expressways and logistics hub projects and jointly construct transit bases for shipping-and-rail joint transport with inland hub cities such as Zhengzhou and Xi’an.

Qingdao will fully support its local companies to go abroad and conduct production capacity cooperation with Belt and Road countries， and will help incubate competitive transnational corporations headquartered in Qingdao. It will also accelerate the establishment of economic and trade cooperation zones at home and abroad， and the city will strengthen resources and energy development cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road， as well as develop resources and energy import businesses. The city will also promote a pilot e-commerce service of national cross-border trade and build an e-commerce network with countries along the Belt and Road， as well as establish a duty-free trade experience platform for Sino-South Korean cross-border e-commerce. Qingdao has opened the Qingdao (China) Center for Business and Commerce as its representative office in Hong Kong， and the city will promote the establishment of a similar center in Russia.

Qingdao will further strengthen cooperation with South Korea， Japan and Singapore in terms of attracting overseas financial institutions to Qingdao and guiding companies in Qingdao to get listed on overseas stock markets， while also connecting with the Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations so as to build a regional equity market. It will also guide financial institutions to develop offshore finance， shipping finance and supply chain finance， in addition to attracting quality wealth management resources from developed countries such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Efforts will also be made to encourage financial institutions and companies to expand financing channels through their overseas branches.

Qingdao will work to build itself into a regional center for cultural and people-to-people exchange and spare no effort to promote key universities based in Qingdao to cooperate with internationally renowned universities. Qingdao will also apply to become the first Chinese “Movie Metropolis” of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network while also expanding cooperation with cruise ports， cruise companies and cruise industries from countries along the Belt and Road in order to become a North China cruise center. The Qingdao International Sailing Week and Qingdao International Beer Festival will continue to be held， and Qingdao will annually establish sister city ties with one or two cities in countries along the Belt and Road. Cooperation with well-known media from home and abroad will help promote the city on the world scene.

The municipal government will advocate pushing forward the construction of the China-Korea Joint Ocean Research Center and support the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology to conduct strategic cooperation with internationally renowned marine research institutions. It will also support research institutions and companies based in Qingdao to establish cross-border joint research and development centers with internationally renowned research institutions， all the while launching national large-scale scientific and technological facilities groups such as the ocean drilling ship and marine comprehensive testing ground. Construction of a national innovation base of the marine bio-medicine industry， a high-tech ships and marine engineering equipment base， and a desalination and marine new energy equipment base will begin.