The Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Beijing Municipal Government recently approved the Plan for Strengthening Beijing's Role as the Center for International Exchange During the 14th Five-Year Plan Period. On September 16th, at the press conference of strengthening Beijing's role as an international exchange center, Feng Jian, Deputy Director-General and Member of the Party Leadership Group of the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing Municipality introduced that the document was not only the first five-year plan for the development of Beijing into an international exchange center but also a "construction plan" to this end.
The international exchange center is one of the strategic positioning of Beijing as "four centers." During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the overall goal is clear: by 2025, the system and spatial layout of the international exchange center will be basically formed, and the city's capacity to deliver services to state activities will be enhanced. The gathering of international high-end resources will be accelerated. There will be rich external exchanges and the international service environment will be comprehensively optimized, seeing an international exchange center with active international communication, well-fledged and internationalized services and prominent international influence taking shape.
Specifically, Beijing will achieve significant improvements in five aspects, namely the capacity to serve overall diplomacy, international interaction, international resources gathering, international service level, and the international reputation of the city.
The Plan puts forward 31 key tasks in seven categories, focusing on functions of the international exchange center and development goals.
Serve the Country's Overall Diplomacy
Serving the overall national diplomacy is the primary responsibility of an international exchange center.
The Plan proposes to explore ways to establish a mechanism for ensuring all-around services for Head-of-State diplomacy and build a high-standard system to gather foreign affairs reception resources in the capital. It also proposes to improve the work plan of epidemic prevention for major state events to ensure that events will be held safely under regular epidemic prevention and control. What's more, the Plan will promote more global governance activities and programs to land in the city and enhance Beijing's influence in the network of global cities. Beijing will also formulate and implement a special action plan to improve the international language environment for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games so as to fully support the Games.
Improve Comprehensive Capacity for Carrying out International Exchanges
Comprehensive capacity for carrying out international exchanges is the foundation of building the center for international exchanges.
The plan aims to further optimize the spatial layout of the center for international exchanges featuring "One Core, Two Axes and Multiple Areas." It will improve the functions of Beijing's Yanqi Lake International Conference Resort, accelerate the construction of Yanbo Mountain Villa and Qihu Hotel and start the construction of Beijing Songxiuyuan Resort in due course to build a core area that can serve top level international exchanges and the whole process of main diplomatic activities. The city will also complete the second phase of the China National Convention Center, building it into an international conference and exhibition complex with the integrated development of multiple business forms.
Beijing will carry out the Guidelines on the Planning and Construction of Dongba Area, build the fourth embassy zone with high standards and turn its surrounding area into a second Sanlitun. Relying on historic and cultural assets such as the Central Axis, the hutongs and traditional courtyards, Beijing aims to create a batch of "small and beautiful" sites for diplomatic activities and foreign affairs.
Attract International High-end Resources
The Plan proposes to explore the establishment of a directory for attracting international organizations and formulate measures to facilitate international organizations to set up offices in the city, so that Beijing could attract more international organizations and their affiliated agencies that meet Beijing's strategic positioning and needs for high-quality development. We will speed up the development of the Beijing China-Japan Innovation & Cooperation Demonstration Zone and the Beijing China-Germany International Cooperation Industrial Park, so as to introduce international high-end industries.
The city will step up efforts to make China International Fair for Trade in Services, Zhongguancun Forum and Financial Street Forum more professional, market-based and up to international standards. We will attract more overseas talent, facilitate the procedures for entry and exit, and stay and residence permits, and provide services with international standards, so that foreign talents are willing to make the city their home.
Improve the Plan of International Exchanges
The Plan proposes to strengthen the top-down design and coordination of sister-city relations, and draw a map of industries in sister cities, focusing on pragmatic cooperation with key international sister cities and capital cities. We will explore institutions and resources of people-to-people diplomacy in Beijing in a holistic manner and strengthen resources-sharing and cooperation in various fields.
We will strengthen the international cooperation against COVID-19 as well as the exchanges and sharing of COVID-19 containment experience, support the promotion and use of Chinese vaccines abroad, and expand the export of protective supplies overseas.
Optimize International Service Environment
We will accelerate the building of international schools in "three science cities and one hi-tech area" and other areas where international talents are concentrated, so as to create more places in international schools. We will also implement supporting policies for international medical service and insurance, and improve the procedures, services and environment with international standards. The city will set up a "one-stop" international talent service center, and launch projects such as the construction of international talent communities and the renovation of demonstration blocks.
We will turn the city into an international consumption center by attracting famous brands to launch their first branch and new products in Beijing. We will advance the legislation of international language environment and continue to optimize the international language environment of Beijing.
Showcase the Image as the Capital City of a Major Country
While improving its role as a center for international exchanges, it is also vital for Beijing to strengthen its international communication capacity and actively build its image as the capital city of a major country.
We will make elaborate preparation for events such as "Beijing Day", "Beijing Week", "Charming Beijing" and "Beijing Night", and strengthen the brands of international cultural festivals such as the Beijing International Film Festival, Beijing Music Festival and Beijing Design Week. Beijing should leverage its advantage as the city to host both the summer and winter Olympics, make full use of the venues after the Winter Games and bring in more high-level international sporting events in the future.
Safeguard the Foreign-related Security of the Capital City
Beijing will give full play to the joint prevention and control mechanism and implement the whole-process COVID-19 control measures. We will improve and promote the use of the English version of Health Kit and facilitate vaccination of foreigners in the city. We will improve the COVID-19 protocols for major foreign-related events, to ensure that international conferences, exhibitions, sports events and cultural activities could be hosted in a safe and orderly manner. We will also implement a review system for foreign investment, improve the coordination mechanism for foreign-related security issues, and prevent all kinds of potential risks in a comprehensive way.
(Reporter: Chen Xuening)
