Region's untapped potential can boost domestic demand
Workers make slipcovers at a company in Yuping Dong autonomous county, Guizhou province, which is supported by a poverty alleviation project funded by Taicang, Jiangsu province, on May 7, 2020. (HU PANXUE / XINHUA)
Editor's Note: With this year's two sessions underway－the annual meetings of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference－China Daily toured China to gather a series of stories focusing on the achievements and blueprints in various regions. They show how different regions find their own special strengths to achieve sustained economic development and integrated growth.
Two decades after the launch of the Western Development Strategy, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China recently announced a significant new step in promoting the large-scale development of the western region in the new era. It is regarded as an updated version of the Western Development Strategy, which opens a new round of development and opening-up of the western region.
For decades, the western region－made up of 12 municipality, provinces and autonomous regions－has lagged behind the eastern region in terms of social and economic development.
Though the region accounts for more than 70 percent of China's land area, it is home to only 27 percent of the country's total population. The region's GDP was also only about 17 percent of the country's overall GDP by the end of the last century.
The well-known Hu Line, which was drawn by famous population geographer Hu Huanyong in 1935 to mark striking differences in population distribution and urbanization levels between the eastern and western regions, has not drastically changed even till the end of the 20th century.
At the beginning of this millennium, the central government established a leading group for the Western Development Strategy to improve economic and social development levels in the region, narrow the regional development gap between the western and eastern regions and strengthen national defense.
In the following two decades, the central government has successively made several five-year plans for the region and launched a series of favorable policies and measures to enhance infrastructure construction, business environment, ecology and employment.
Since the 19th CPC National Congress, the central government's Western Development Strategy began to focus on "forming a new pattern" to suit changing global and domestic situations. A new guidance was eventually launched to clearly mark the direction and road map of the western region development in the new era.
"In the past two decades, the Western Development Strategy has mainly focused on infrastructure construction as well as environmental protection in the first 10 years, and development of key industries as well as social undertakings in the next 10 years," said An Shuwei, economic professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business. "And the new guidance answers the question on how to further develop the western region in the following 15 years under new situations."
The guidance stated that the development gap between the eastern and western regions still exists, making the western region "a weak link" in building a moderately well-off society in an all-rounded way and achieving socialist modernization.
As this year is the final year of China's poverty alleviation campaign, the western region faces great pressure in reaching this goal, given that the remaining 52 poverty-stricken counties are all in the western region. Now, overcoming the negative impacts of the novel coronavirus outbreak and accelerating development in the region to help the impoverished are top priorities for the western region.
To further promote development of the western region, the new guidance puts forward 36 specific measures for deepening reform, high-quality development, the Belt and Road Initiative, environmental protection and employment.
The new guidance defines the "new pattern" of western region development with three key terms: large-scale protection, large-scale opening-up, and high-quality development.
In the guidance, the word "ecology" was mentioned 20 times, "protection" 16 times and "environment" 12 times. This indicates the significance of environmental protection in the new development thoughts for the western region.
Zhang Yunfei, professor at the Marxism Studies School in Renmin University of China, said environmental protection of the western region's ecology relates not only to the locals' livelihoods, but also to China's poverty alleviation campaign and building a moderately well-off society in an all-rounded way.
"Enhancing environmental protection of the ecology in the western region is beneficial to safeguarding national ecological security and the construction of a 'Beautiful China'," he said.
Deepening opening-up in the western region is considered a national rather than a regional development strategy, and it takes into account the special situations China has faced globally and domestically in recent years.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus at the beginning of the year poses great challenges to China's economy, particularly foreign trade. In the first quarter of this year, China's GDP declined 6.8 percent year-on-year－the lowest growth rate since 1992. The epidemic seriously undermined economic growth in the eastern region, whose economy relies more on international trade when compared to the western region. However, the western region, which has been maintaining a relatively high GDP growth rate in recent years, showed less economic decline in the first quarter.
With the spread of the novel coronavirus still not curbed globally, the negative impact on foreign trade will continue in the following weeks. Under such circumstances, exploring the great development potential in the western region, with its vast landscape and abundant resources, is of great significance for China to boost domestic demand to cope with the pressure of the economic downturn.
More importantly, the anti-globalization trend promoted by the United States and the trade war have drastically changed global economic and trade patterns. This makes the Belt and Road Initiative more important for the development of both the country and the globe. This is why the central government stresses strengthening opening-up in the western region "led by construction of the BRI".
The western region is an important junction and basis of the BRI, as it is closely connected to many countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt. According to the Belt and Road Big Data Report 2018 issued by State Information Center, imports and exports with countries involved in the BRI account for the highest proportion of the western region's foreign trade volume, which was as high as 48.1 percent in 2017.
"The BRI will lead opening-up, infrastructure connectivity and complementary development of the western region," said Hu Biliang, director of the Emerging Market Institute at Beijing Normal University. "The western region will promote construction of the Belt and Road by providing a great market, advanced technology and financial investment."
For the western region, both environmental protection and further opening-up are in accordance with the transformation of China's development model: from high-speed to high-quality development. According to the document, the final goal is to "propel economic revolution of quality, efficiency and driving force and promote coordination among economic development, population, resources as well as the environment, in order to achieve higher quality, more efficient, fairer and more sustainable development in the western region".
Core cities are also crucial to regional development. The document stated that Chongqing, Chengdu in Sichuan province and Xi'an in Shaanxi province are to become an "international gateway hub", indicating the great potential of the three cities in the development of the western region in the future.
"The three cities have become core cities of the western region since the beginning of the strategy launch," said Li Chao, deputy director of the Center for City and Competitiveness at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "With prominent advantages in higher education, new technology industries and policies, these cities will actively play their role in driving up the development of the northwest and southwest regions."
Timeline
January 2000
The State Council establishes a leading group for western region development.
Oct 26, 2000
The State Council launches a series of policies to implement the Western Development Strategy.
December 2006
The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) of the Western Development Strategy is approved at an executive meeting of the State Council.
2010
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issue guidance detailing further implementation of the Western Development Strategy.
February 2012
The State Council approves the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) for western region development.
January 2017
The State Council approves the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for western region development.
October 2017
The 19th CPC National Congress emphasizes the need to promote development of the western region.
March 19, 2019
A guidance on the development of western region to form a new pattern in the new era is approved at the seventh meeting of the CPC Central Comprehensive Deepening Reform Committee.
May 17, 2020
The CPC Central Committee and the State Council issue a guidance promoting development of the western region to form a new pattern in the new era.
May 22, 2020
The Government Work Report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang calls for continual promotion of large-scale development in the western region.
