Deliver high-quality services for China’s overall diplomacy and show foreign friends the charm of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center (BMC); invite foreign media outlets to visit the BMC and share with them compelling stories about Beijing and China; proactively engage in external exchanges to boost the BMC’s international influence... These are the concrete steps that Tongzhou District has taken to enhance Beijing’s role as a center for international exchanges. With a focus on serving China’s overall diplomacy and Beijing’s high-quality development, the BMC is further unleashing its vitality of international exchanges. The region has emerged as an active player on the world stage.
Serve China’s overall diplomacy with high standards
Five years ago, on the evening of October 21, 2019, the Reception in Honor of Foreign Diplomatic Missions to China was held in the BMC for the first time. At the Administrative Office Area, 500 drones lit up the night sky and formed patterns like “Welcome to Beijing!” and “I love you, China!”, creating a spectacular light show. This was the first major diplomatic event held in the BMC after the relocation of Beijing’s municipal authorities, opening up a brand new chapter of vibrant international exchanges.
On the evening of October 21, 2019, the Reception in Honor of Foreign Diplomatic Missions to China was held in the BMC for the first time
Fast forward five years to February 2, 2024, the 2024 New Year Reception for Foreign Journalists in China was also hosted in the BMC. At the glittering Grand Canal Museum of Beijing, nearly 600 guests including foreign journalists in China and their families, diplomats in China, officials from central authorities and relevant departments of Beijing Municipality, and heads of major domestic media outlets, engaged in animated conversations. In the venue, elements of traditional Chinese culture could be found everywhere. On one side of the hall, numerous exhibition booths showcased Chinese intangible cultural heritage such as New Year paintings, sugar figurines, Beijing embroidery, and knotting. Exhibits highlighting the Grand Canal, Tang Ren Fang silk figurines, dough sculptures, and flower buns reflected the unique characteristics of Tongzhou District, captivating many journalists from both home and abroad. Before the reception, the foreign journalists also visited the Beijing Library and the Grand Canal Museum of Beijing. The achievements made in the BMC impressed all participating journalists.
More exciting events unfolded one after another. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and seven Central and Eastern European countries—Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, and others, the ambassadors of these countries to China visited the BMC to experience the new achievements of Chinese modernization. A total of 30 diplomats from the embassies of 19 countries, including Serbia, Croatia, Qatar, and the US, also came to the BMC, engaging in in-depth discussions with local business representatives for future cooperation.
As they ascended the stairs to the third floor of the Beijing Library, diplomats felt as if they were climbing a mountain amid green trees, and eventually reached the open-access reading area at the top. Lordwell Kalubankwa, Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Zambia in China, expressed his amazement upon learning that this uniquely shaped and magnificent library is freely accessible to the public. At the Grand Canal Cultural Tourism Scenic Area, the diplomats were captivated by the breathtaking scenery along the canal, where blue and green hues intertwine. They eagerly took out their mobile phones to capture the harmonious beauty of the canal and the city.
Babagana Wakil, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of Nigeria’s Embassy in China, visited the BMC for the first time. “I love this place, and I’m deeply impressed by every aspect of it!” He remarked that the Grand Canal is of great significance, facilitating economic exchanges and development along its banks. The Grand Canal Museum of Beijing showcases China’s time-honored canal culture, while the public library is an integral part of urban culture. The high-quality public facilities in the BMC left a profound impression on him. “I’m particularly interested in the pharmaceutical enterprise that gave presentation in the BMC promotion session, and I hope that I can foster relevant collaborations,” Wakil said.
Since the beginning of this year, nearly 600 visitors from 16 delegations, including the delegation of Japan-China Economic Association and the delegation of young and female leaders from the Solomon Islands, have visited Tongzhou District, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the BMC’s development achievements.
Continue to expand the “Circle of Friends”
Shoveling soil, planting saplings, filling in new soil, and irrigating the newly-planted saplings... In April, the 2024 Beijing International Friendship Forest Tree Planting Event was held in Phase III of the Zhangjiawan Park, Tongzhou District. On this occasion, Chinese and foreign participants planted over 100 trees, including traditional species such as the “golden stem” pagoda tree and the “red flower” locust tree, as well as shrubs like forsythia.
This is an epitome of Tongzhou’s efforts to foster global friendships and expand its “circle of friends”. This July, Tongzhou District once again welcomed its old friends from the ROK—a delegation from Guro District, Seoul. During their stay in Beijing, the delegation visited the BMC planning and construction exhibition hall, the three major cultural facilities of the BMC, Universal Beijing Resort, and the “Two Zones” Exhibition and Reception Hall, experiencing the rapid development of Tongzhou District in person.
Guro District, a transportation hub in Seoul, is a center of cutting-edge digital industry with the knowledge and information technology sector at the core. In 1995, Tongzhou District and Guro District signed an agreement on friendly exchanges. In 2002, the two districts officially established sister-city relationship. Over the past 22 years, the two sides have maintained close ties. In particular, the signature youth exchange program between the two districts has enabled mutual visits of nearly 200 youths in 15 batches, laying a solid foundation for long-term friendship and cooperation. This year, Tongzhou District will also send middle school students to Guro District for study and communication, hoping to expand cooperation in broader areas
Since the beginning of this year, Mizuho Fukushima, Head of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, Yoshimi Teruya, Vice Governor of Okinawa Prefecture Government, and the former and present directors of the Okinawa Prefecture office in Beijing have successively visited the BMC, setting the foundation for enhanced cultural exchanges between the two sides. Tongzhou has proactively engaged in diverse friendly activities with government representatives from the 13th District of Buenos Aires in Argentina, Salzburg in Austria, among other regions, thereby expanding its international “circle of friends”.
Tell compelling stories of China
An increasing number of foreign journalists have set foot on the BMC, telling compelling stories about Beijing and China based on their personal experiences.
On April 10, the 2024 “Daka China - Opportunities in Beijing” Online International Communication Event was officially launched at the BMC. Media representatives from Central and Eastern European countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia visited the construction site of the BMC Station integrated transport hub, Beijing Library, Grand Canal Museum of Beijing, and Beijing Performing Arts Center, witnessing the new chapter of high-quality urban development of Beijing in the new era. Anita Buhovski, a journalist from Faktor in North Macedonia said, “In my country, people usually travel by bus and rarely by rail transit. I hope Chinese technologies in the future could be introduced to my country and the two countries could work together to develop the transportation industry.”
A media delegation from Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states visited the BMC in July, 2024
Three months later, a media delegation from the SCO paid a visit to the BMC. Nearly 30 journalists from China, Kazakhstan, India, Iran, Pakistan and Russia visited the integrated transportation hub project of Beijing Municipal Administrative Center (BMC) Railway Station. A journalist Kostina Anastasia Alexandrovna from Izvestia said, “This project leaves a deep impression on me because it’s really huge. Through this project, I see China’s promising future and its capability to implement such a huge project. The project has made contributions to the development of transportation and community systems, which has impressed me a lot.” After seeing the intelligent inspection robot for construction sites, Nadeem Qadri, the editor-in-chief of The Nation in Pakistan, said, “I would suggest you export these technologies to other countries, especially to Pakistan. China and Pakistan should work together on major projects of this kind.”
Connect the BMC industrial development to the rest of the world
In recent years, Tongzhou District has connected the industrial development in the BMC to the rest of the world in multiple ways such as initiating “going global” and “bringing in” strategies.
The “Walking Davos” event was held in the BMC for the first time in August 2022
On May 27, the signing ceremony of Sino-German Center for Innovative Environmental Technologies (the “Sino-German Center”) was held in Frankfurt. The Sino-German Center, soon to be headquartered in Tongzhou District of Beijing, will serve as a crucial bridge for facilitating bilateral environmental technology innovation and market development. Markus Joswig, Managing Director of PIA GmbH and Director of the Sino-German Center stated that this marked a new model of industry-academia-research cooperation on the basis of Sino-German water environment and health collaboration for six consecutive years, and the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement would push both countries to establish a long-term, comprehensive and in-depth strategic partnership. It will also intensify international cooperation of Tongzhou District in environmental technology innovation and talent cultivation, offering more technology solutions for further building a national demonstration zone for green development.
Since the beginning of this year, Tongzhou District has comprehensively sorted out major foreign-invested projects. Focusing on the goals of investment attraction, the district has established a closed-loop mechanism featuring foreign-invested project reserve, planning and following-up led by foreign affairs department and supported by relevant industrial departments. It has planned and organized a range of investment attraction activities including overseas promotions and target enterprise visits in Singapore, the UAE, the UK, Germany, Spain and other developed countries and regions, further pushing forward cooperation between well-known companies such as Perennial and Mundipharma, and Tongzhou District. Meanwhile. an overseas investment promotion liaison office has been set up in Singapore.
This year saw numerous important investment attraction activities be held in the BMC. In January, the Annual Closed Door Meeting of China UAE International Capital Center ZVCA China-Gulf Countries Innovation and Capital Forum, which is the first multilateral financial exchange event of the year, was held at the Beijing International Fortune Center. The forum brought together sovereign wealth funds, royal capital investments, family wealth offices and other institutions and companies from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, alongside prominent domestic financial institutions, investment groups and industrial corporations, seeing constant expansion of the BMC’s financial “circle of friends” and closer ties and interaction with the Middle East countries. In February, the Promotion Conference on High Quality Industry Development of Beijing Municipal Administrative Center was held, which released the list of “major projects with investment above 100 billion” of the BMC, Measures of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center to Support Talent Development, and high-quality new-type industrial space of the BMC. The conference which invited heads of ASEAN-China Center and other international organizations, promoted relevant policy and financial support of the Beijing Data Infrastructure Pilot Zone and Beijing Hospital-Industry Cooperation Demonstration Zone.
In July, “Multinational Corporations in Tongzhou” was held. Nearly 60 heads of multinational companies in China explored the development and business environment of the BMC. They witnessed firsthand the high-quality development prospect of the BMC, and engaged in exchanges in the Beijing Future Design Park in Zhangjiawan Design Town. The attendees said, as a pacesetter of the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as well as the municipal administrative center of Beijing, Tongzhou District has a promising future, and the event has successfully built a valuable platform facilitating multilateral cooperation and exchanges.
On top of that, by fully leveraging decoupled industrial associations and chambers of commerce, as well asinternational functional institutions, Tongzhou held multiple activities such as “Hundred National Business Associations Visiting the BMC” and “Beijing-based International Business Associations Visiting the BMC”. These activities pushed forward the industrial departments of the district to establish contacts and cooperation mechanisms with organizations including the China Association for the Promotion of International Agricultural Cooperation, China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office, and BIC Euronova. This has injected fresh impetus to investment attraction of the industrial ecosystem.
The secrets of popularity for a global Tongzhou
“Come on! Come on!” echoed through the streets as the 2024 Beijing MC Marathon took place in Tongzhou District Sikong Fenshu Street on April 21. There were a total of 13,000 contestants from 13 countries including China, Ethiopia, Kenya, the United States, Germany, Japan, Finland, Thailand, Venezuela, Singapore, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam as well as regions including Macao, Taiwan, and Hong Kong of China. A Kenyan contestant broke the record and won the men’s title in two hours 15 minutes and 30 seconds. The Beijing MC Marathon has become an international sports gala.
The famous and interesting BMC has attracted numerous foreign internet celebrities. On the morning of July 16, 11 internet celebrities from Thailand, Pakistan, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Honduras and Rwanda visited the BMC. Nuttapong, a Thailand internet celebrity whose Chinese name is Zhou Yuansheng said, “I have been to many places in China, and I am fond of Chinese culture and Chinese food.” He recommended his fans to have a tour of the BMC if possible.
In recent years, distinctive cultural and sports activities such as the Beijing MC Marathon, 1st Grand Canal International Sailing Regatta, Beijing Dragon Boat Competition, and Infinite Music Festival have drawn domestic and foreign enthusiasts to participate in competitions, and watch contests and performances, fully showcasing the international charm of the BMC’s eco-friendly and leisurely lifestyle.
As it is of great importance to improve investment conditions to attract foreign capital and expertise, the BMC is drawing an increasing number of foreign nationals and foreign-invested companies with its unique picturesque scenery, profound cultural heritage, and fashionable and modernized atmosphere. It will speed up efforts to build itself into a global Tongzhou that is desirable to live, work and visit, shining brightly on the world stage.
(Edited based on reports from Beijing Daily)
