Top provincial officials survey state-owned enterprise HQs to help President Xi Jinping move key offices out of Beijing

On the last day of his Beijing visit, Ni visited the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering – two top national research institutes performing high-level science and engineering research – the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party’s Hebei provincial committee said.

According to the official outlet, during the same period Hebei governor Wang Zhengpu visited the National Energy Administration and major SOEs in the energy sector, including the China National Nuclear Corporation, China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corporation, as well as China’s mega state-owned investment groups Citic Group and State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC).

According to the Hebei Daily, Ni reiterated the “important instruction” from Xi during his trip to Xiongan in May, in calling for the major SOE groups in Beijing to put more industrial projects and innovative business into Xiongan New Area. Xiongan is a top national development zone for which the Chinese paramount leader has campaigned since 2016.

Hebei Daily said the representative from key SOEs welcomed Ni and his team, and promised to “resolutely implement” Xi’s instructions and contribute more to the high-standard and high-quality development of Xiongan New Area and the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

Qin Feng, a senior researcher at the Communication University of China’s Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and world affairs institute, said the latest visit by Hebei top cadres showed Xi’s “strong determination” to push Xiongan was now clearly felt by the officials in charge.

“Things are moving faster now, despite continued resistance from the ground,” Qin said.