SCIO briefing on China's current economic performance
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, July 28, 2017
Bloomberg News:
The nation's economy has been stable overall, but there's great regional divergence. Gansu, Hainan and Tianjin, for instance, have decelerated in the first half by more than one percentage point from the first quarter. How can you explain that and what can policy-makers do to address these regional differences?
Cong Liang:
As regions differ in terms of their development stage and factor endowment, they naturally differ in economic growth.Just as you mentioned,the growth in Gansu and Hainan didslow down somewhat. However, for these two provinces, greatpriority should be given toenvironmental protection rather thaneconomic growth. Hainan is an island in the tropical rainforest zone. Its ecology can be found nowhere else in China, so its protection deserves greater attention than economic growth. Gansu's Qilian Mountain is regarded as China's "water tower."If the mountain were polluted, the entire Yellow River and Yangtze River networks would suffer. Therefore, for such regions, environmental protection is more important than economic growth. Thank you.
Yang Weimin:
I have something more to say on this issue. China has a large territory, with natural and geographical conditions differing greatly between regions. The natural environment in Qinghai and Tibet in the west is very different from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east. That's why we create policies for functional zones to promote regional development. Under these policies, some regions can concentrate on industrialization and urbanization, while some perform the role of an agricultural zone. As major producers of agricultural products, these zones should not put too much effort into industrialization and urbanization. Likewise, the main responsibility for some regions is ecological conservation.
You mentioned Hainan just now. The province's main responsibility is protecting its ecological environment, thus serving as a "back garden" for the Chinese people. Therefore, it's reasonable for Hainan's economic growth rate to be a bit lower than some others. This was the necessary consequence of the central authorities' policies and new, green development methods. I think the result is positive.
Regarding Gansu, besides concerns on ecological conservation, the province is also handicapped by natural condition that is not as good as eastern provinces. The mining industry makes up a rather high proportion in Gansu's economic structure. As the official of National Bureau of Statistics has just said, profits in the mining sector have continued to drop; hence, in regions where the mining industry accounts for a large proportion of the economic structure, it's normal that the economic growth rate would be lower than others.
When analyzing economic development in different regions, we can't use a one-size-fits-all standard. What we care about most now is whether their development fits green ideas, and whether they have fulfilled their functions and promoted development as required. This is different from our previous appraisal of regional performance. We changed our way of thinking because great efforts have been undertaken to advocate ecological progress and green development after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Thank you.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)