We believe that, based on Pingtan's special location near Taiwan Province, the safety conditions for open development and the long history of Taiwan Province, the establishment of a pilot zone for cross-strait cooperative development with Pingtan Island as the special zone will help to further strengthen cross-strait cooperation and exchanges, and also help to give play to Pingtan's special advantages in Taiwan Province and accelerate the pace of open development of Pingtan.
In recent years, the idea of speeding up Pingtan's open development has attracted the attention of NPC deputies and CPPCC members at all levels in China, provinces and cities. They actively offered suggestions and suggestions at the national, provincial and municipal levels through suggestions from deputies and members, creating a good atmosphere for public opinion.
During this period, the leaders of Fujian Province and Fuzhou City made important instructions for many times, asking the relevant departments of the provinces and cities to help us make a good demonstration and constantly improve the conceptual planning.
What makes us very excited is that in the early promotion process, our ideas have been highly valued by national leaders. Zhang Mei Ying and Li Wuwei, vice-chairmen of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, visited Lanzhou in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Moreover, since 2008, leaders of democratic parties such as the Taiwan League, the Democratic League, the Revolutionary Committee, and the Jiu San Society, as well as leaders of relevant ministries and commissions such as the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Taiwan Affairs Office, have also conducted field research and listened to reports.
On May 14, 2009, the State Council officially issued "Several Opinions on Supporting Fujian Province to Accelerate the Construction of the Economic Zone on the West Side of the Taiwan Strait" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), which marked that the construction of the west side of the Taiwan Strait rose from a regional strategy to a national strategy and provided unprecedented strategic opportunities for the accelerated development of Pingtan, the bridgehead of the Taiwan Strait.
The State Council's "Opinions" pointed out that "on the basis of the existing special customs supervision regional policies, we will further explore the establishment of special customs supervision areas for cross-strait cooperation on qualified islands along the coast of Fujian and implement more preferential policies".
Based on this spirit, Fujian Provincial Party Committee and Fujian Provincial Government formally decided to set up Fuzhou (Pingtan) Comprehensive Experimental Zone at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Provincial Party Committee held at the end of July, proposing to actively explore cross-strait regional cooperation, establish a closer regional platform for cross-strait cooperation and exchange, and strive to build Pingtan into a demonstration area for exploring new modes of cross-strait cooperation and a pioneering area for the scientific development of the economic zone on the west side of the Taiwan Strait.
After the Fujian Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government made the decision to speed up the opening and development of Pingtan, the land of Pingtan, which has been "standing guard" for the motherland for decades, was jubilant, and 400,000 children on the island were extremely excited. The broad masses of cadres and masses in the whole region have quickly formed an entrepreneurial atmosphere of seizing opportunities, rallying strength, tackling key problems with determination and taking positive actions.
At the same time, domestic and foreign media and related institutions such as Singapore, Taiwan Province Province and Hongkong have paid unprecedented attention to Pingtan, and are full of expectations for the important role played by Fuzhou (Pingtan) Comprehensive Experimental Zone in promoting the great cause of peaceful reunification of the motherland. Pingtan has achieved a historic turning point from the former frontier of coastal defense and has become a hot spot in the economic zone on the west side of the Taiwan Strait.
Favorable conditions for establishing Fuzhou (Pingtan) comprehensive experimental area
Pingtan consists of 126 islands, with a total area of about 6,436 square kilometers, including 372 square kilometers of land area and a total population of 400,000.
Haitan Island, the main island, covers an area of 27 1 km2, which is the fifth largest island in China and the largest island in Fujian, equivalent to four times that of Hong Kong and twice that of Xiamen, with a total area exceeding half that of Singapore.
The transportation system is complete.
Pingtan is only 68 nautical miles east of Hsinchu, Taiwan Province Province, and 60 kilometers north of Fuzhou Changle International Airport.
Pingtan Strait Bridge and Fuqing-Pingtan Expressway are under construction.
The planned Beijing-Taiwan Expressway will reach Pingtan Island, and the northern line of Taiwan Strait Tunnel will reach Hsinchu, Taiwan Province Province from Pingtan. Upon completion, a relatively complete comprehensive transportation network of sea, land, air and port will be formed.
Unique development conditions
Pingtan is surrounded by the sea, and the economic, trade, cultural and educational exchanges with Taiwan Province Province in various development modes on a closed and open island will not impact the development pattern of the surrounding coastal areas, but can also play the role of "starter" and promote the faster economic development of the coastal areas.
Close contact with Taiwan Province
Pingtan was a transit point for Taiwan trade and maritime trade in the southeast coast in history, and became one of the five ports of Fujian's trade with Taiwan in Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty.
1978, Pingtan Island was approved to set up a special berth and reception station for Taiwan compatriots for the first time.
In the past 30 years, Pingtan has received Taiwan compatriots, and the total number of Taiwan compatriots ranks in the forefront of various berthing points in Taiwan Province.
There are hundreds of thousands of villagers in Taiwan Province in Pingtan. There are both Su 'ao Town and Beicuo Village (street) with the same name on both sides of the strait, and various non-governmental exchanges between the two sides of the strait are very close.
Pingtan's popularity is well-known on the island of Taiwan Province Province, and many Taiwan Province compatriots got to know and enter the mainland through Pingtan, a special "window" for cross-strait exchanges.
Rich in characteristic resources
Advanced port coastline
The coastline is 408 kilometers long, and the per capita coastline ranks first in the province. There are 283 natural harbors and Macao ports, of which more than 10 can be built, with a tonnage of1-300,000 tons, which is qualified for building a large-scale logistics port.
Unique tourism resources
Pingtan tourism resources are unique in landscape and rich in species. National first-class to fourth-class scenic spots 128, with a total length of 70 kilometers.
Eight Scenes of Haitan were rated as national key scenic spots in 1994, included in the national reserve list for declaring world natural heritage in 1999, and were rated as the first batch of national natural heritage in 2006.
Sufficient room for development
Pingtan has ample development space and hinterland. The construction land area of Haitan Island, the main island, is about 166 square kilometers. Together with 12 small islands with development conditions, the total development area is 255 square kilometers, accounting for 68% of the land area of the whole region.
Highlight characteristic industries
The existing leading industries in Pingtan Island are mariculture, offshore fishing, shipbuilding and modern service industry with tourism and commerce as the main body. The marine industry is mainly marine transportation and tunnel engineering.
Among them, the marine transportation industry has 8.8 million deadweight tons of private transport vessels, ranking first among counties and cities in China.
Tunnel engineering projects undertaken by tunnel engineering enterprises are all over the country, accounting for more than 70% of the total, with an annual output value of more than 20 billion yuan.