Although Suzhou's GDP has reached 2170.5 billion, it cannot be directly under the central government.

As a prefecture-level city, Suzhou's GDP has exceeded 2 trillion in 2020, which also exceeds the GDP of as many as 12 provinces and regions in China (one city to one province); It has also occupied the position of the sixth city in GDP for a long time, which has made many provincial capitals lose face.

So Suzhou has always wanted to be directly under the central government.

But despite the high voice, why can't Suzhou become a municipality directly under the central government like Tianjin?

Personally, I think Suzhou will never become a municipality directly under the Central Government for three reasons.

At present, there are four municipalities directly under the central government in China, namely, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin.

The status of municipalities directly under the central government is extremely high: economically, it is basically the same as that of provinces, autonomous regions and special administrative regions, but politically, it is even higher than them, and in terms of pilot projects and preferential policies given by the central government, it is also beyond the reach of ordinary provinces and cities. More importantly, all municipalities directly under the central government are directly under the jurisdiction of the central government and directly connected with various departments of the central government. The leaders of municipalities directly under the central government are all at the Politburo level, which can be described as detached.

At present, there are three cities in China, namely, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Nanjing, which have the highest voice among the people and are most likely to become municipalities directly under the central government.

Because the GDP of Shenzhen and Suzhou has exceeded 2 trillion, Nanjing has almost reached 654.38 billion +0.5 trillion, making it one of the top ten cities in China.

Why can't Suzhou be directly under the central government (why can't Shenzhen and Nanjing be directly under the central government? I will give you more details in another article.

First, the natural location strategy is not superior enough, which is the first reason why Suzhou cannot be directly under the central government.

At present, the four municipalities directly under the Central Government of China are unique in geographical position and irreplaceable by other cities:

1. Beijing is the capital and has long been an important town for guarding the northern border (that's how the Ming Dynasty's "the son of heaven guards the nine borders" came into being). Only when Beijing is safe in the north can China be safe.

Tianjin can become a municipality directly under the central government because it is the maritime gateway of Beijing. Since modern times, foreigners have entered Beijing several times, all from Tianjin, and their city status goes without saying.

3. Shanghai can be directly under the central government because it is the economic capital of China and the most important stronghold of foreign economic ties after the first five trading ports of China were forced to open to the outside world.

4. Chongqing can be directly under the central government because of the construction of the Three Gorges and the settlement of the poverty problem of immigrants. The Three Gorges Dam in China at that time was not only an economic choice, but also a political decision. Therefore, Chongqing directly under the central government is more for political orientation than economic reasons.

And what is the location advantage of Suzhou? Not at all: not in the coastal area, it has no natural responsibility for foreign defense and foreign relations, and has no responsibility for regional stability and poverty alleviation.

So in terms of location, it can't be a municipality directly under the central government.

Second, from the perspective of economic radiation capacity, there are few areas that Suzhou can drive and radiate.

If there is no advantage in politics and national defense, it can't be said that Suzhou, which has strong economic radiation and driving ability, has no hope, but even such a second-class advantage, Suzhou has no hope.

Suzhou is very embarrassed. It bears the radiation and drive of eastern Shanghai, but it can't drive and radiate in other directions:

1. Wuxi in the west is also the most developed area in China, the birthplace of China's national industry and the mode of township enterprises in southern Jiangsu, and its per capita GDP is higher than that of Suzhou;

The Yangtze River is in the north, and Nantong is in the north of the Yangtze River. People are also undertaking Shanghai's industrial transfer and striving to build Shanghai-Shanghai integration. Do you want Suzhou to drive me to Nantong? Let's go to the edge and have a rest!

3. What about the South? This is the richest place in China-Jiaxing Plain, and Jiaxing is located at the junction of Shanghai and Hangzhou, two economic centers in China. Jiaxing's folk wealth is no worse than Suzhou's.

So judging from Suzhou's economic radiation and driving ability, Suzhou's role basically does not exist, so how high can your economic status be? It is only a "demonstration" role of industrial development. After all, Suzhou is actually a fat pig with meat and fat (Suzhou people don't scold me, I just tell the truth), and eating meat will remind you.

Thirdly, judging from the integrated development of Jiangsu Province and Yangtze River Delta, Suzhou is less likely to become a municipality directly under the central government. The national strategy is to build an integrated economic circle in the Yangtze River Delta and promote the balanced development of three provinces and one city (Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai) in eastern China.

At present, the Yangtze River Delta, in the final analysis, is just south of Jiangsu and north of Zhejiang, and Shanghai is developing well. However, Anhui, especially northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu, southwestern Zhejiang and southern Zhejiang, has a poor development. In this case, in order to promote the development of the whole Yangtze River Delta, we must drive the resources of the Yangtze River Delta to northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu and southern Zhejiang.

This is actually a big chess game in the economic redistribution of the Yangtze River Delta, and it is the foresight of the country.

To achieve this layout, we must concentrate on reducing the power of the first-level administrative center, and naturally it is impossible to increase the first-level administrative center.

Assuming that Suzhou is directly under the central government, Suzhou and Jiangsu provinces have equal status. If Jiangsu province wants to tilt the economic development of the project to northern Jiangsu again, is it possible for Jiangsu to ask Suzhou for money and technical support?

If Suzhou is a municipality directly under the central government, there is another provincial administrative coordination object in the triangle, just like the European Union. Which province or city do you think will be better, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui or Zhejiang?

It can be said that Suzhou directly under the central government first harmed the interests of Jiangsu, secondly harmed the administrative rights and interests of neighboring provinces and cities, and increased the cost of administrative coordination.

Suzhou is a municipality directly under the central government, which seems to be of little benefit to the central government and is not an urgent problem.

From the perspective of Suzhou itself, there are still many difficulties in wanting to be directly under the central government: first-class universities have no academic qualifications; In terms of medical care, there are no first-class hospitals and medical schools; House prices are too high, and people's happiness is not much. ......

So to sum up, Suzhou should be the first prefecture-level city with peace of mind in China at present. Try to climb up and see if you can win a sub-provincial city. As for municipalities directly under the central government, don't think about it any more.