A senior official in Hebei province who is leading economic coordination of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region denied a rumor on Wednesday that Baoding is the first choice to be the deputy political center after Beijing.

Chen Yongjiu, head of the Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said it's impossible to select another city as the deputy political center.

The governments of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province as well as related departments of the central government have been working together to locate the functions of the three for regional cooperation, based on documents guiding the regional development, Chen said.