Chapter 17 Chapter 15 The country gives the green light: not unique, but unique in special

From the moment Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew made it clear that he wanted to build a Singapore "industrial park" in Suzhou, China, the whole world has been paying attention to this project, and Singapore, as one of the developed capitalist countries in Asia, is actually paying close attention to China. The actions of the government and Suzhou people.Since 1993, whenever Chinese and New Zealand leaders met, they would naturally talk about the Suzhou Industrial Park.According to the agreement, the governments of China and New Zealand have established a coordinating council for the Suzhou Industrial Park. The chairmen of the council are respectively held by a deputy prime minister of China and Singapore. The first chairman of the council in China is Li Lanqing, vice premier of the State Council. The first chairman of the Council was Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister.The Chinese council members are He Chunlin, Deputy Secretary-General of the State Council, Hu Ping, Director of the Special Economic Zone Office of the State Council, Gan Ziyu, Deputy Director of the State Planning Commission, Yang Changji, Deputy Director of the State Economic Commission, Xiang Huaicheng, Vice Minister of Finance, Zheng Silin, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and the People's Bank of China. Deputy Governor Dai Xianglong, Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province Wang Rongbing and Mayor of Suzhou Zhang Xinsheng.The members of the council in Singapore are the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Minister of National Development, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Labor, and the Singaporean Ambassador to China.Such a camp shows that China and New Zealand attach great importance to this project.And all of these, in the eyes of Suzhou people, certainly reflect the care of the party and the country for Suzhou Industrial Park. At the same time, Suzhou people also deeply understand a basic fact: without subjective efforts, there will never be pie in the sky.

In the process of transplanting Singapore's "software", problems and contradictions in Eastern and Western cultures, legal and management systems and mechanisms are almost everywhere.How to deal with and coordinate these problems and contradictions is constantly testing the abilities of Suzhou people and their degree of ideological emancipation. However, there are thousands of roads in the world, and everyone is walking their own road.A region or a city is also going its own way, some take shortcuts, and some take detours.Those who take shortcuts may not necessarily arrive at the destination first, but detours will affect the historical process of a region or a city.On the road, there are red lights and green lights; all walkers hope that there is a green light ahead, but often the red light blocks your steps.The wisdom of the wise is shown in the fact that one's footsteps are always just right at the moment when the green light is flashing, and this requires hard work, tenacity and superhuman assessment of the situation.

1994 was the year when the Suzhou Industrial Park was officially established. Before that, China and New Zealand were like a pair of lovers about to get married. From the beginning of a good impression to the spark of love, the two parties seemed to be going smoothly. From time to time, many things are brought up, and because of these things, sometimes quarrels and quarrels are inevitable, but this is a quarrel between "lover", it is a "must pass" episode towards union.After all, one of China and New Zealand is a socialist country with a market economy that has not yet opened up, and the other is a capitalist country that has entered the ranks of rich countries. It is not so easy for such a pair of "improper" lovers to get together.Suzhou people need to show perseverance and patience at this moment, and more importantly, they need to show sincerity and enthusiasm.However, after all, the systems of the two countries are different. When a "foreign daughter-in-law" enters the door, your in-laws must arrange their courtyards to suit the habits of the "foreign daughter-in-law", otherwise the beautiful marriage bed will not produce the fruit that Suzhou people expect .

For this, Suzhou people have worked hard, and it can be said that they have made extraordinary efforts.Now comrades in many places are particularly envious of the special policy given by the state in Suzhou Industrial Park. This policy can be summed up in a simple sentence: not unique, but unique.These words may sound awkward, but it is precisely these eight words that have benefited Suzhou people from the national policy level. As mentioned above: During the Spring Festival of 1991, Deng Xiaoping once said something emotional in front of the rushing Huangpu River in Shanghai. He meant that when designing several "special economic zones" such as Shenzhen, if Pudong in Shanghai was included together, it would be a waste of money. Shanghai and the entire Yangtze River Delta will be a huge boost.Later, under the strong support of Deng Xiaoping and the third generation of central leaders headed by Jiang Zemin, Pudong caught up with the new wave of "special zones."Afterwards, all parts of the country wanted to follow the example of Pudong and hoped that the central government would give it "special zone" treatment, which triggered a round of "development zone" upsurge, but the central government put a brake on it.Afterwards, not only were the "development zones" strictly controlled, but there were no new "special zones" anymore.Two or three years later, a new problem emerged in the cooperation between China and Singapore: Can Suzhou Industrial Park become another Chinese "special zone" after Pudong?The central government's opinion is very clear: impossible!

What if it is not "special"?The transplantation of Singapore's "software" to Suzhou obviously requires the Chinese government to come up with many special policies. Without these special policies, it is almost impossible for Suzhou people to move forward. For example, if it is a special zone, there will be many preferential policies in terms of taxation.This article directly affects the vitality of the park. Later, Suzhou people won the policy of "exempting the new fiscal revenue of the park from being handed over within 5 years (1994-1998)" from the state.

For example, regarding the approval of industrial land, according to the state regulations at that time, industrial land that reached a certain limit, even within the scope of the park, had to be reported to the superior or even the central government for approval. However, Suzhou later went to the state to obtain a policy that was even more special than Pudong.This special policy made Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong very happy. Once he heard Wu Kequan’s introduction, he asked in amazement: You said that, our park can only approve 60 hectares of land each time?Wu Kequan told him: Yes.Lee Hsien Loong asked again: Does that mean we can approve "60 hectares" several times a day?Wu Kequan replied again: That's what it means!Lee Hsien Loong then laughed and praised the Chinese government for being "meaningful enough".

The same is true for project management. The state stipulates that all projects with a large amount of foreign investment need Beijing’s approval, even Pudong is no exception. However, the state’s regulations on Suzhou Industrial Park are: as long as the projects meet the national policy requirements for the park, The park itself can approve it. For example, there are many foreign-related affairs. The park has obtained special approval authority for foreign affairs through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that is, passports can be directly processed in the park, and business travelers can leave whenever they want, so it is convenient to come and go...

All of these are what Zhu Rongji said: Although your Suzhou Industrial Park is not a special zone, it is not unique, and there are special features in the special area.It means: Although you are not a special zone like Pudong or Shenzhen, you enjoy many special zone policies, and you have some special zones. It is precisely this special policy of "not unique, but unique in special" that Suzhou Industrial Park has enabled Singapore's "software" to settle smoothly on the shore of the beautiful Jinji Lake. All of these policies of “not unique, but unique among special” are reflected in the State Council’s document “Guo Han [1994] No.People in Suzhou refer to it as "Document No. 9" for short.

This "Document No. 9" did not come easily, and listening to the parties talk about the formation process of this document is unforgettable: "This 'No. 9 Document' needs to be drafted by us before it is formed. After it is successfully drafted, it will be submitted to the State Council meeting for formal approval. But this process is very complicated. You can't wait for the leaders to raise their hands during the meeting. We ask for preferential policies from the state. There are many contents in which not all the leaders can understand and support at once, so it is necessary to introduce the situation to these leaders in advance. We knew in advance that this matter would involve 18 relevant leaders, so we brought the draft and went to the door one by one. They reported. I remember that Comrade Song Jian was the only one who didn’t go there, and we all went to the other leaders. Through introductions, they all agreed in principle. With their prior understanding, this document quickly entered the hands of the central leadership.” Zhou Zhifang was one of the drafters of the document. He told me proudly, "The document was delivered to Beijing on New Year's Eve in 1994. Vice Premier Li Lanqing signed it on the first day of the New Year, and then passed it to Vice Premier Zhu Rongji. , then passed to Premier Li Peng, and finally General Secretary Jiang Zemin 'circled'. General Secretary Jiang read the circle on the second day of the new year. You can think about how this 'birth certificate' of Suzhou Industrial Park is in the hands of the central leadership Efficiently approved!"

All Suzhou people are grateful to the Party Central Committee and the third-generation central leadership with Comrade Jiang Zemin at the core for their care for Suzhou Industrial Park.It is said that Comrade Li Peng mentioned this matter when he visited Suzhou later and said: "It is similar to Document No. 9, and will not be approved again in the future!" On February 26 of this year, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing held a grand official signing ceremony between China and Singapore on the document "Learning from Singapore's Experience and Cooperating in the Development and Construction of Suzhou Industrial Park". Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Minister Lee Kuan Yew represented the governments of the two countries respectively The agreement was signed, Premier Li Peng and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong attended.The Suzhou Municipal People's Government and relevant parties in Singapore also signed the "Agreement on Using Singapore's Economic and Public Management Experience for Reference" and the "Commercial General Agreement".The comrades in charge of Jiangsu Province and the leaders of Suzhou City all witnessed this historical event.

On March 16, the leaders of Jiangsu Province emphasized at a meeting of 3,000 provincial-level cadres in the Great Hall of the People in Nanjing that the construction of Suzhou Industrial Park is an important strategic decision for Jiangsu Province to open to the outside world in the new historical period. The top priority of the province's current reform and opening up is the top priority in Jiangsu's economic construction.It is said that there was thunderous applause in the Great Hall of the People in Nanjing at that time. Not to mention in Suzhou, when the State Council issued the "No. 9 Document", the peaceful and depressed Jinji Lake in the past suddenly sounded like spring thunder-the thousand-year-old city seemed to usher in a new life again, and the "foreign Suzhou" that people were looking forward to was unveiled. Its mysterious and charming veil... On May 12, amidst the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers, "Suzhou Industrial Park" officially started construction!