BEIJING,
March 28 -- The country's "Go West" policy to develop the lagging western
regions is gaining ground, a United Nations report has shown.
The heartening signs are largely from government
efforts to improve trade and investment, the UN Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in its latest annual survey of the
region.
The report highlighted trade, specifically exports,
of the western regions showing a more rapid rise than those of the coastal
regions, even though western regions started from lower levels.
"A particularly encouraging trend for China's
neighbors is the relatively rapid export growth seen in many western regions,"
the survey said.
"The government is encouraging this trend through
extensive projects to improve cross-border transportation."
The country's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which
shares borders with Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, India,
Pakistan, Russia and Tajikistan, is being seen as China's gateway to Central
Asia. The region's trade with Central Asia has tripled since 2002, reaching a
record $9 billion in 2006, the report said.
In the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, cross-border
trade has also grown with neighboring Vietnam, rising by close to 50 percent in
2006 to $1.8 billion. Similarly, Yunnan province's trade links have reportedly
expanded with Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, while Mongolia and Russia have reported
rapid increases in trade with the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
The "Go West" policy, started in 1999, is aimed at
narrowing per capita gross domestic product (GDP) income disparities, currently
considered among the highest in the world, the ESCAP reported.
Priorities of the western development strategy
include infrastructure construction, environmental protection, industrial
upgrading, human capital accumulation, and science and technology research.
The report added that growth in the western regions
was also supported by greater foreign direct investment and backed by research
and development.
"Foreign direct investment, a focus of the 'Go West'
policy, increased substantially in a quarter of the western provinces," the
survey added.
The ESCAP said that growth was reported for Tibet,
Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Guangxi, Chongqing and Yunnan, along with a
recent rapid increase in foreign direct investment in Sichuan, Inner Mongolia
and Shaanxi.
Research and development spending also reportedly
grew more rapidly in four of the 12 western regions - Ningxia Hui, Tibet, Inner
Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur - than most coastal provinces.
These, the ESCAP said, helped final consumption
increase more "in a quarter of the western provinces than in the majority of
coastal provinces".
Slower, steady growth
The country will see a moderate slowdown in growth
this year, but remained underpinned by strong domestic demand and government
social spending despite a slowing United States economy, the ESCAP also
reported.
The report expected an easing in growth to 10.7
percent from 11.4 percent in 2007 - the fastest for China in 13 years - as a
result of a slowdown in exports and government measures to cool growth.
"Investment continues to be the main driver of
growth, remaining resilient despite government cooling measures and with support
from low real interest rates," the ESCAP said.
"A slowdown in exports and the government's measures
to cool the economy are the main reasons for the moderation," the survey said.
The ESCAP also downplayed any significant impact on
China's economy resulting from a downturn in the US economy due to the ongoing
subprime credit crisis.
"In a worse-case scenario - where the United States
economy goes into a recession - the impact on China will not be as great as on
other Asia-Pacific countries," it reported.
In terms of China's overall trade, the country
witnessed increasing exports to the European Union last year, a shift which
compensated for a steady fall in exports to the US - China's second-largest
export market, the report said.
The country also witnessed a boom in trade with
Africa.
Growth also came in service exports, which rose
globally by an average of 16 percent over 1995-2006.
"China had the best performance in transport services
exports of all Asia-Pacific countries, growing at 34 percent per year over
2000-2006," the ESCAP reported.
However, the country is facing an increasing
challenge from inflation.
Last year, inflation rose dramatically to 4.8 per
cent - the highest in a decade, and three times the 1.5 percent reported in
2006.
Higher international oil and food prices were
identified as chief inflationary concerns.
"Rising food prices are a bigger inflationary concern
than oil prices because food accounts for a far higher proportion of consumer
spending. Food price inflation particularly hits low-income households," the
ESCAP said in the survey.
The country's fast-paced growth was coming at an
increasing cost to the environment, while the loss of arable land to
manufacturing also raises concerns, the ESCAP warned.
"The destabilizing effect of growth on the
environment is becoming more apparent. Air pollution, especially in large
cities, is increasing the incidence of lung disease," it said.
(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
