Zhanjiang Mayor Wang Zhongbing holds a live chat themed "Deepening ASEAN cooperation, building a pivot city" with netizens this morning.

Click here to read the Chinese version.

Wang talks with netizens online on the morning of Jan 22, 2016.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The host gives a brief introduction to the live chat and the attendees of the event.

Netizen: Zhanjiang was one of China's coastal open cities 30 years ago, and now it is one of the pivot cities in China's Belt and Road Initiative. What do you think of Zhanjiang's new position in this national strategy? What does "pivot city" mean? And what are Zhanjiang's advantages and disadvantages compared with other 14 pivot cities?

Wang: Zhanjiang is honored to be one of the 15 pivot cities in the Belt and Road Initiative. A pivot usually plays a supporting role. So Zhanjiang, as a pivot city, plays an important role in China's opening-up. Compared with other cities, Zhanjiang enjoys the shortest distance on maritime routes with countries along the Belt and Road. However, there is still a gap between Zhanjiang and neighboring cities in development. Because of this, Zhanjiang has much space for further development and that's what we are trying to do.

Netizen: What's the idea of the "Deepening ASEAN cooperation, building a pivot city"?

Wang: The government authorities in Zhanjiang have achieved a consensus on the idea and the promotion of "Deepening ASEAN cooperation, building a pivot city". All of us have agreed on the measures to promote the development of a pivot city for Zhanjiang.

First, we plan to build the Zhanjiang Port into a national deep-water pivot port. International cooperation is two-way and can achieve a win-win result. Logistics plays an important role in the cooperation. Compared with other types of logistics, port logistics has the lowest cost and minimum risks. Now we are striving to make Zhanjiang Port one of the first group of channels in China with 400,000 capacity.

Second, we decided to make Zhanjiang a center among the pivot cities in China. During the period of the national 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), we will launch high speed train routes through the areas belonging to Zhanjiang's One Port and Two Coastal Areas strategy. Upon the construction of Hepu-Zhanjiang High Speed Railway, the 115-kilometer train route will considerably shorten the time and distance between Guangxi Autonomous Region's Beihai city and Zhanjiang. We have made it into the Guangdong provincial 13th Five-Year Plan. Zhanjiang is expected to be a center with more competitiveness and attractiveness upon the completion of the railway.

Third, we will advance the industrial pivot construction for Zhanjiang. Focusing on manufacturing, we will carry out this work through the promotion of industries of modern manufacturing, iron, petrochemical and marine.

Fourth, with the overall economy entering into "New Normal", we will attach great importance to the combination of innovation-driven industries and the science and talents in Zhanjiang, to develop Zhanjiang Port into a pivot port. We will display our achievements in this aspect at the Third China Marine Economy Expo this year.

Fifth, Zhanjiang is an important place and a national demonstration city for the harmonious relationship between military and civilians. Since we provide military accommodation, we will create more space for industrial development via the integration of military and civilians.

Sixth, Zhanjiang has big potential to become an agricultural pivot city because its location is favorable to tropical agriculture. The development of some local agricultural enterprises has reached to international levels. With the increase of modern agricultural competitiveness in Zhanjiang, we are confident in developing the city into an agricultural pivot.

We will build Zhanjiang into a pivot city from the above six aspects to deepen the ASEAN cooperation. And a deep cooperation of ASEAN will boost the development of a pivot city in return for Zhanjiang.