Editor's Note: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, China's Cabinet, recently issued an outline plan for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, confirming the strategic status of the region's integrated development. 21st Century Business Herald comments:

Despite the steady progress the Yangtze River Delta region has made in promoting integrated development in the commodity market, factor market, property market and even market regulation, there is no denying that the region is still plagued by market segmentation and trade is not smooth due to some conflicting interests among the various administrative areas. Given that the different administrative areas have different interests and value orientations, and their duty boundaries may overlap, this may lead to disagreements over the common goal of integrated development.

The similar natural endowments of the cities may also bring about industrial structural uniformity in the region. All this poses challenges for the region in the transformation of government functions and industrial policy coordination and highlights the need for different cities to establish incentive compatibility mechanisms and to work for the common cause of integrated development.