-- Premier Zhu Rongji has set forth
some major objectives for the implementation of
the strategy to develop China's western areas in
his government work report to the Third Session of the Ninth
National People's Congress. For the
present and a period of time to come, the focuses
should be placed on the following:
--To accelerate infrastructure development.
While mainly concentrating on highways, efforts
should be made to build more railways, airports
and gas trunk pipelines. Efforts should also be beefed up
for the growth of electric power grids and
telecommunications, radio and television
facilities as well as infrastructure development
in large and medium-sized cities. It is particularly
important that prominence should be placed on the
rational exploitation of water resources and on
water conservation.
--To conserve and improve
ecological environment effectively. Greater
efforts need to be made to complete the projects in
protection of natural forests along the upper
reaches of the Yangtze River and the upper and
middle reaches of the Yellow River. Terraced fields on steep
slopes should be returned to forests or pastures
in a planned and systematic way.
--In light of
China's relatively ample supply of grain and other farm
produce, forests and pastures should be developed at the
expense of grain production in accordance with the
comprehensive measures for returning cultivated land to
forests or pastures, closing off hillsides to facilitate
afforestation, giving relief to local residents in the form
of grain, and encouraging individual contractors to manage
concerned areas.
Plans should be worked out to
provide effective policy guidance for this work, respect the
wishes of farmers and carry out experiments, gradually
spread successful new practices, and refrain from rushing
headlong into action. Any further effort to clear forests
and pastures to reclaim land should be resolutely stopped.
-- In light of local geography, climate,
resources and other conditions, different regions should
focus on developing strong industries with local
characteristics as well as high and new technology
industries where conditions permit.
--
Science, technology and education should be vigorously
developed. The translation of scientific and technological
advances into productive forces should be accelerated;
people should be trained in different fields at different
levels of expertise; and the overall quality of the
workforce should be improved further.
--
Efforts should be made to open China wider still to the
outside world, improve the investment environment and do all
possible to attract foreign funds and import foreign
technology and managerial expertise.
Zhu
Rongji said that the large-scale development of the central
and western regions of the country is a major policy
decision made by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central
Committee for the new century in accordance with Deng
Xiaoping's strategy for the country's modernization drive,
which encompasses the development of both the coastal areas
and the interior.
"This is crucial to the
efforts to boost domestic demand, promote sustained national
economic growth and bring about coordinated development of
regional economies for eventual common prosperity as well as
to strengthen national unity, safeguard social stability and
consolidate border defense," he said.
The
premier asked the eastern region to continue to take
advantage of its strong points to constantly improve the
performance of local economy and its competitiveness so as
to facilitate its own development, and areas where
conditions permit should take the lead in modernizing.
The eastern region should increase support to
the central and western areas in various ways, such as joint
development, cooperation for mutual benefit and providing
coordinated assistance.
Implementing this
great policy decision is a long-term and systematic project.
"We need not only a sense of urgency, but also a
comprehensive plan focusing on key areas. We must carry out
the plan step by step," Zhu stressed.
There are 10 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipality in west China, including Gansu, Qinghai,
Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Tibet, with a total area of some 5.4
million square kilometers and a population of 285 million.
The average gross domestic product (GDP)in the
resources-rich but underdeveloped region is only half that
of the eastern region.
In the early 1980s,
Deng Xiaoping, China's reform architect, urged the central
and western parts of China to assist the coastal
areas, while the eastern areas will make more efforts to
help the central and western China at a certain stage.
Now, the time is due.
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