Critical Moment! Shenzhen's Key Meeting: What Signals Are Sent?

"Impressive."

On September 12th, Elon Musk shared a drone performance video from China on social media and expressed the above admiration.

Within less than five hours of posting this update, it garnered nearly 100,000 likes.

The dazzling "cyber fireworks" that bloomed in the night sky once again amazed the world with Shenzhen's spectacle.

Indeed, the 8,100 drones that participated in the performance all hail from a Shenzhen-based company—Giant Innovation.

With two drone shows, this company not only captured the massive attention brought by the "richest man" but also broke two Guinness World Records.

There are over 1,700 drone companies like Giant Innovation in Shenzhen.

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In this fertile industrial land, tens of thousands of "new forces" are emerging and growing wildly.

Just a few days ago, an important meeting was held in Shenzhen, revealing the key direction of this miraculous city.

On September 20th, the ninth plenary session of the seventh Shenzhen Municipal Committee was convened, setting a crucial tone for the special zone's development over the next five years.

The more than 2,000-word resolution of the plenary session covers 13 fields and includes all aspects, which can be considered a "roadmap" for Shenzhen's comprehensive deepening of reforms in the next five years.

Notably, "system and mechanism" became a buzzword, appearing a total of 15 times.

This is certainly not a coincidence but a continuation of the spirit of the third plenary session.

In the "Decision" passed at the 20th Central Committee's third plenary session in July this year, "system and mechanism" appeared as many as 43 times.

In the grand game of comprehensive deepening of reforms, "system and mechanism" have become a key element in promoting Chinese-style modernization.

Considering that system and mechanism issues are often deep-seated, breaking through them also means "solving real problems, truly solving problems," which inevitably requires courage and determination.

Therefore, Shenzhen is expected to explore more new paths for the country this time.

As a special economic zone and a pilot demonstration area, Shenzhen has greater freedom in legislation in key and emerging fields.

As the saying goes, the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.

The reform tasks of the new era require Shenzhen to be forward-looking and introduce a batch of pioneering and leading regulations nationwide.

For example, the low-altitude economy is currently the hottest industry track globally.

As early as 2013, Shenzhen released the "Aerospace Industry Development Plan (2013-2020)" with foresight, supporting drone design testing, assembly integration, and human-machine interaction in batches every year.

Shenzhen has been promoting the construction of related infrastructure for many years and supporting enterprises to carry out pilots.

Companies like DJI, Fengyi Technology, and Cowell Technology have grown rapidly in such an atmosphere.

Today, Shenzhen has opened 212 cargo drone routes.

Ordering takeout on a smartphone and having it delivered by a drone has become a daily occurrence for many Shenzhen residents.

With Shenzhen's relentless exploration, many areas that were once blank have become navigable.

At the end of last year, Shenzhen's "innovative low-altitude economic development mechanism" was also selected by the National Development and Reform Commission and seven other departments, along with 21 other reform experience results, for national promotion.

This year, cities of all sizes across the country are vigorously pursuing the low-altitude economy.

It is estimated that China's low-altitude economy could reach a scale of 2 trillion yuan by 2030.

Including the low-altitude economy, in the past three years, 87 "Shenzhen experiences" have been promoted nationwide by the National Development and Reform Commission.

The purpose of this example is to tell everyone that Shenzhen will gain more management authority, lay out key areas in advance, and form a new batch of valuable experiences that can be promoted.

Shenzhen, this "pioneering ox," is ready to lead us into more unknown areas.

So, where should we start specifically?

In the plenary resolution, new quality productivity and new industrialization are given priority.

The original text says: It is necessary to improve the system and mechanism to promote high-quality economic development, improve the system and mechanism to accelerate the cultivation and development of new quality productivity, improve the mechanism for promoting new industrialization, improve the system for developing the service industry, fully promote digitalization and intelligence, improve the mechanism for accelerating the development of various new economic forms, improve the system and mechanism for modern infrastructure construction, and improve the system for enhancing the resilience and security level of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Shenzhen is a city established on industry, with manufacturing as its mainstay.

This arrangement is not surprising at all.

Especially in recent years, Shenzhen has successfully made a comeback and has become China's "first industrial city."

In 2022 and 2023, Shenzhen's large-scale industry and industrial added value have been at the top of the national city list for two consecutive years.

In the first half of this year, Shenzhen's GDP grew by 5.9%, exceeding the national and Guangdong provincial average growth rates, leading the growth rate of first-tier cities.

Among the main forces driving Shenzhen's economic horse cart, industry plays a major role, and various "new forces" perform particularly eye-catchingly.

From January to June this year, Shenzhen's strategic emerging industry added value reached 760.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.7%.

Specifically, software and information services, smart terminals, networks and communications, ultra-high-definition video display, and intelligent connected vehicles all showed double-digit growth.

The newly added low-altitude economy and aerospace clusters in Shenzhen's "20+8" (that is, 20 major strategic emerging industry clusters with advanced manufacturing as the backbone and 8 future industries) have grown by 32.4%.

On this basis, the proportion of Shenzhen's strategic emerging industry added value in GDP has also increased from 41.9% in 2023 to 43.9%.

Under Shenzhen's meticulous cultivation, many companies, including Onna Technology, Luxshare Precision, Jiyang Intelligence, and Kangguan Technology, have gradually grown from "little giants" into single champions in their industries.

Shenzhen, which is already leading, has not slowed down its sprint at all.

In March this year, Shenzhen proposed that by 2025, the added value of strategic emerging industries will exceed 1.6 trillion yuan, and at the same time, it will create four trillion-level, four five hundred billion-level, and a batch of hundred billion-level industrial clusters.

One of the characteristics of new quality productivity is that it must break through the restrictions of old scientific and technological paradigms, factor allocation models, and industrial organization forms.

This also means that the next step of reform must dig out deeper-level issues.

Interestingly, a week before the opening of this plenary session, Shenzhen held two symposiums in three days, and both were personally chaired by the party secretary.

On September 10th, a symposium for service industry associations was held, and on September 12th, a symposium for some industrial system associations was held.

The third and second industries together account for 99.9% of Shenzhen's total GDP, almost representing all components of Shenzhen's economy.

According to local media reports, the symposium was entirely problem-oriented, and the speeches prepared by the participants did not talk about achievements but mainly reflected the existing problems in the industry.

The leaders of Shenzhen also responded one by one and made arrangements and deployments immediately.

I have to sigh, Shenzhen is still Shenzhen, with efficiency and pragmatism written in its bones.

Problems have been raised, and they must be solved.

What industrial policies Shenzhen will introduce next and what fields will be transformed is really worth looking forward to.

How to "run towards each other" with the world in the future is also an important issue arranged for Shenzhen by the higher-ups.

I noticed that "to improve the high-level foreign opening system and mechanism, steadily expand institutional openness, and deepen the reform of foreign trade system" has also been written into this resolution.

In the first half of this year, Shenzhen city newly established 3,683 foreign-funded enterprises, accounting for 13.7% of the national share.

It is equivalent to more than 20 foreign enterprises settling in Shenzhen every day on average.

Currently, there are more than 310 of the world's top 500 enterprises investing in Shenzhen, including leaders in the field of new quality productivity.

Just this year alone, executives from multinational giants such as Apple, Tesla, British DMG Exhibition, Japan Panasonic, and Swiss Deloitte have frequently appeared in Shenzhen, continuously negotiating projects and signing investment agreements—Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer of Apple: This is China's "Silicon Valley," with unique advantages, and we will continue to increase investment in Shenzhen.

Tao Lin, Global Vice President of Tesla: Tesla has a good development momentum in Shenzhen and will further deepen exchanges and strengthen cooperation with Shenzhen; Christopher James Hudson, President of British DMG Exhibition Group: Hope to work with relevant government agencies to strengthen cooperation in Shenzhen; Markus Schmid, Global CEO of Swiss Deloitte Group: Hope to combine the professional advantages, resource advantages of Deloitte Group with Shenzhen's location advantages and innovation advantages; South Korea Marine Promotion Commission: Expressed optimism about the investment prospects in Shenzhen and will cooperate with Shenzhen in the digital, intelligent, and green transformation of ports; ...

Despite the continuous waves of great power games, 13 foreign heads of state or government leaders have visited Shenzhen this year, more than the total of the past two years.

Shenzhen still wins the firm optimism of global investors and real investment.

Achieving this result is not easy.

It should be noted that in the first half of this year, China's actual use of foreign capital decreased by 29.1% year-on-year.

With the departure of the high-growth era, both attracting and going out have entered a new stage of development.

The foreign investment work symposium held in early July clearly proposed that provinces with a large amount of foreign investment should take responsibility.

Shenzhen, as the "first window" of reform and opening up, is still improving its position.

While Shenzhen is desperately grabbing foreign investment, Shenzhen enterprises are frantically going abroad to grab orders.

In the first half of this year, Shenzhen's import and export volume was 2.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.7%, setting a new high for Shenzhen's import and export in the same period of history.

Among them, the scale of cross-border e-commerce import and export increased by 130% year-on-year.

More and more "Shenzhen specialties" are going global through cross-border e-commerce and are taken home by overseas customers.

The Shenzhen Special Zone Daily published a commentary: The past "Great Age of Navigation" was a geographical discovery; today's "Great Age of Navigation" is a market discovery.On the frontlines of going global, there are boundless opportunities, but also the challenges of high winds and rough waves.

Logistics, customs clearance, credit risk, compliance, and capital security... all require Shenzhen to explore experience and tackle problems as they arise.

Since its inception, Shenzhen has carried an important mission to carve out a new world.

Forty-four years ago, Shenzhen became the "experimental field" of reform and opening up, starting from a seed, a blank sheet of paper, and growing into today's towering tree, a myriad of prosperity.

Today, the bugle call for reform has sounded, and Shenzhen once again takes up the banner, setting off with the posture of a leader.

Bless Shenzhen!