In 1986, when Deng Xiaoping, the 'chief architect' for China's reform and opening up policies, inspected the newly established eco-tech development zone in Tianjin, the area was merely a strip of semi-wasteland with almost nothing on it.
Only a decade later, the Binhai New Area, as the zone is called today, has emerged as the nation's most promising region for foreign investment.
In 2007, the actual foreign capital used by Binhai surpassed US$23 billion. Eighty-nine global business players listed in the Fortune Magazine's Top 500 have built a total of 219 factories.
Binhai New Area has good reasons for being so enticing to foreign ventures.
For 10 years straight, the Ministry of Commerce assessed its investment climate as the best among all state-level economic and technological development zones. The local government has gone all out in order to facilitate foreign business investments.
A bird's eye view of the Binhai New Area.
Regarding business tax burdens, the forever topmost concern to all entrepreneurs, Binhai has devised a package of appealing policies. For instance, foreign companies engaged in high-tech industries, in their initial two years of operation, will receive full repayment of the corporate income tax they pay to the local government, and will also get full compensation of the corporate income tax they pay to the central government. In the succeeding three years, these companies will respectively receive a half repayment and a half compensation of the corporate income tax they pay to the local and central governments.
A large and talented labor pool is available in the Binhai New Area. With a group of universities, such as the renowned Nankai University, located in the nearby region, foreign businesses in Binhai have no need to worry about obtaining high-level managerial personnel. Concerning middle-level technicians, who serve as the backbone of manufacturing enterprises such as Motorola, Toyota and Samsung, in the year 2006 alone, 5,358 people had received training given by the local government. Of them, 1,120 are now qualified technicians at the middle level or higher.
A 334-meter long vessel heading for France is anchored in Tianjin Port on March 31, 2008. The vessel is four meters longer than the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln.
Lying on the coast of Bohai Sea, Binhai New Area particularly enjoys advantages in maritime transportation. For one thing, the Tianjin Port located in this area is the largest port of north China, capable of handling cargos ranging from containers to coal, steel and vehicles. Moreover, as Tianjin Port has the shortest land distance to northern and northwestern China, goods downloaded in Binhai can be transported to the country's vast hinterland at a significantly lower cost. Blessed with these advantages, manufacturing enterprises based in Binhai experience marked convenience regarding imports and exports of goods.
