Once unknown, Baise becomes industrial powerhouse

Editor's Note: China Daily is running a series of stories on old revolutionary bases with profound history and heritage that are striving to lead local people on the road to prosperity in the new era.

Guangxi border city and center of aluminum production poised to tap potential of RCEP

Decades ago, when Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's reform and opening-up policy, urged the exploration of aluminum in Baise city, in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, it was all but unknown.

Today, the city on the border with Vietnam is one of the most important national hubs for aluminum and produces about 2.4 million metric tons of electrolytic aluminum per year, about 5.6 percent of the national total.

Earlier this year, the temporary lockdown of production due to the COVID-19 epidemic in the region sent global aluminum prices rocketing to a 14-year high.

Behind this huge transformation are the city's efforts to strengthen the development of key industries, especially aluminum, a crucial component used in construction, automobile production and many other consumer goods.

It also reflects a broader blueprint for expanding high-level opening-up under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, one of the world's largest free trade agreements.

"The city will make full use of its unique location on the border with ASEAN economies and connections to many southwestern cities," said Huang Rusheng, Baise Party secretary.

"More efforts will be made to drive institutional innovation, infrastructure interconnection and industrial cooperation to help the city build an open, high-quality economic system."