A new strategy to develop China's central region was discussed
at a high profile forum in Henan
Province on Thursday, following in the footsteps of endeavors
to develop its vast western region and rejuvenate its northeast
industrial base.
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"2005 is the first year during which specific planning will be made
for the new strategy," said Liu Yingjie, an official from the State
Council's Policy Research Office, "Local governments in the central
region will make their own plans accordingly."
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"The timing and the content of the new strategy deserves our great
expectations," said Han Qide, vice chairman of Standing Committee
of National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, in
his opening remarks at the Forum on Promoting the Development of
the Central Region held in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital.
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Approximately 200 officials, strategists and academicians attended
to confer on the strategy for the region, home to about 360 million
people and comprising the provinces of Shanxi,
Anhui,
Henan, Jiangxi,
Hubei
and Hunan.
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Researchers at the forum and sources close to the State Council
said that the implementation of the new strategy will be one of the
central government's major tasks for this year.
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Covering 1.02 million sq km, 10.7 percent of China's total area,
the region produces 23 percent of its GDP.
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China's major grain producer, the region has lagged behind the
country's economic boom of recent years, not only with a widening
gap between it and the economically developed eastern coastal
areas, but also when compared to the western region.
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A report on medium and long-term development plan made by the
Ministry of Science and Technology said per capita GDP in central
China was 88 percent the national average in 1988, dropping to 83
percent in 1990 and to 75 percent in 2003. In terms of GDP volume,
the gap between central and eastern regions rose by a factor of six
in the past two decades.?
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In contrast, the west and northeast, two regions once plagued by
slow economic growth, have picked up the pace of economic expansion
thanks to development strategies.
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Since the strategy of developing the central region began a year
ago, central and provincial governments have scaled up research
into its feasibility and supporting policies with the help of
institutions like the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the
State Council's Development Research Center.
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Strategists acknowledged it was unrealistic and impossible for the
central region to enjoy the same preferential policies regarding
land use, taxation and tariffs that were given to coastal areas and
special economic zones at the beginning of China's reform and
opening up drive in late 1970s and early 1980s.
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"The State Council will certainly learn lessons from the
policy-making regarding the western development and the revival of
the industrial base in northeast," said Liu, the official who works
under the cabinet.
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"We will be more prudent and the policies will be more thoughtful,"
he said, without further elaboration.
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Li Chengxun, a professor with the Institute of Economics under the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it would take at least two
to three decades for the central region to catch up with eastern
coastal areas.
(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2005)