China is going to invest more in the development of its western
regions and lay foundations for its further development, officials
have said at a news conference at the First session of the 10th
National People's Congress in Beijing Saturday afternoon.
The news conference, held in the Great Hall of the People, was
attended by Vice Minister of the State Development Planning
Commission Wang Chunzheng and Deputy Director of Office of the
Leading Group under the State Council for the Development of the
Western Regions Li Zibin. They introduced the development of
China's economy and western regions and answered questions from the
press.
Wang said that the "Go West" campaign was an important measure to
narrow the gap between developed and under-developed regions.
"Since the strategy was implemented three years ago, great changes
have taken place in western regions. Economic growth reached 9.9
percent last year gradually catching up with the rest of China and
great progress has been made in infrastructure construction and
eco-system protection," Wang explained.
He
added that central government would give more support to western
regions this year also.
Li
Zibin added that he thought the "Go West" campaign was vital as it
involved 12 provinces with a total area of 6.85 million square km
and a population of 367 million people, 28.8 percent of the
country's total.
He
said that the existing gap between the east and west of China was
for historical reasons and based upon natural resources and
geographical location.
"The GDP per capita in the west is only 40 percent of that of the
east but the growth rate of GDP in the years, 2000, 2001 and 2002
was 8.5, 8.7 and 9.9 percent, respectively, with an average growth
rate of 9 percent. Fixed asset invest in the three years, with an
average growth rate of 18.8 percent increased by 12.7, 17.2 and
22.4 percent, respectively."
Although there is still a long way to go, Li said that rapid growth
in the west was strengthened by huge capital input from the
government. However, an internal mechanism to promote local
economic development had yet to be developed. In the past three
years, central government injected 260 billion yuan and transferred
over 300 billion yuan to western regions.
Li
said that China's western development was still at a stage of
laying its foundations for future development, focusing on
infrastructural development, eco-system protection and the
development of science and education. He said that the west should
take advantage of these funds to develop locally advantageous
industries and the speed and depth of development would
increase.
"The government in the western regions should change their working
style, improve administrative efficiency and set up a modern market
economy. This will create a better investment environment for the
future," he added finally.
(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Tang Fuchun, March 10, 2003)