On a route linking Beijing, the northern province of Hebei and the port city of Tianjin, an autonomous freight truck rolls out of a logistics park in Beijing’s southeastern suburbs, crosses Hebei’s Langfang City and heads toward the Tianjin Port, carrying with it a supply chain highlighting growing industrial integration across the region.
The journey reflects a broader push to integrate one of China’s most economically important regions, where local governments are trying to pool industrial strengths in areas ranging from electric vehicles and robotics to healthcare and transport networks.
From batteries and roof racks made in Hebei to car lights and seats produced in Tianjin, components from across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are increasingly being assembled with Beijing-developed intelligent driving systems into finished new energy vehicles sold across China and overseas. In 2025, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region produced 1.084 million new energy vehicles, with average annual growth exceeding 60% during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).
Authorities are now advancing regional coordination through the “six chains and five clusters” initiative, covering sectors such as hydrogen energy, biomedicine, cybersecurity, robotics and intelligent new energy vehicles, as the region seeks to build a more integrated innovation and manufacturing network.
Under the plan, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will each host a dedicated park as part of an 8,000-mu (533 hectares) intelligent connected new energy vehicle technology hub, with Beijing’s section in Shunyi positioned within a one-hour industrial circle linking major automakers including Beijing Benz, Li Auto and Beijing Hyundai.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly called for deeper coordination among the three regions since elevating the initiative into a national strategy more than a decade ago.
During an inspection tour in Hebei in 2023, Xi called for efforts to reach new heights in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and to make it a pioneer and example in pursuing Chinese modernization.
The coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should ultimately improve the people’s wellbeing and promote common prosperity, he said, adding that constant efforts should be made to enhance the people’s sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.
The integration drive is increasingly visible in daily life beyond factories and industrial parks. Intercity rail links, for example, have been established across the region, cutting travel times among major cities and helping commuters move more easily. The region has established a 1 to 1.5-hour transportation circle, highlighted by the Beijing-Tangshan intercity railway, the Beijing-Xiong’an expressway, and the newly launched Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei rail loop line.
Hospitals in Beijing have also increased cooperation with medical institutions in Tianjin and Hebei, allowing more patients to access specialist care closer to home. Since April 2023, the three areas operate under a social security “one-card pass” system covering over 64,000 medical institutions. In the meantime, more than 115 regional medical alliances have been established, effectively improving the standardization and consistency of medical services across the three areas.
Yang Xiuling, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, said the three regions have been leveraging their comparative advantages to cultivate new quality productive forces and strengthen high-quality growth.
The advantages of the three areas complement and support each other, and this has become the main theme of coordinated development, the official said.
