The State Council has approved a plan to develop the Yangtze River Delta into a key international gateway for the Asia-Pacific region, said the National Development and Reform Commission. The idea is to develop a modern service industry and advanced manufacturing sector, in addition to a world-class cluster of cities.

The Yangtze River Delta region encompasses Shanghai, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in eastern China, one of the country’s most developed economic regions.

Wang Xiaoguang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told China Daily that the relatively low level of manufacturing and the small proportion of the service sector in the region might prevent it from achieving the government’s modernisation goal by 2020. Currently, services account for 60 percent of GDP in Shanghai, and just 40 per cent in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Wang said.