Half
a century after the People’s Republic of China was set up, the CPC
announced its attempt to develop the Western zone. This includes 11 provinces
and the Chongqing Municipality. Most of the areas are inhabited by national
minorities. The zone is characterized by underdeveloped infrastructure,
inconvenience of transport, and slow economic development. Its weight in the
national economy was only 14.5% in 1995, yet its population was around 360
million, amounting to about 30% of the total population of the country; its
land area was almost 60% of the country’s area.
The
increase in income was very slow for the rural population, especially those in
the mountain areas. The official statistics have it that in the last two years,
there has been some improvement, and the average per capita annual real income
of the urban population in some provinces in the West amounted to RMB 4,500
yuan and even 6,000 yuan. How inflated the figures are, one cannot know. The
rural situation is certainly worse. According to a report by a journalist of
the Hong Kong TVB, which was broadcast on June 11, the interviewee, Jiang Jian,
a volunteer to Yunnan from Shanghai, said that the annual income of the
mountain population in Mojian County, Yunnan, was one or two hundred yuan. Apple
Daily reported on June 29 that the per capita annual income of peasants in
Guizhou Province was a mere 1,400 yuan.
Premier
Zhu Rongji’s
explanation to the National People’s Congress in March 2000 about the move to
develop the West was: “This is significant for the expansion of the
domestic market, sustained growth of the national economy, and coordinated
development of the regional economies, for the ultimate realization of common
wealth, unity of the nationalities, maintenance of social stability, and
consolidation of the defense of the border areas.”
The
picture that was drawn was grand, but the context in which the project was
conceived and the difficulties underlying the project were complicated.
Economically, the impact of the Asian financial crisis on China was quite
serious, and in addition, the anarchy of the market economy has also caused
huge stocks of unsold goods. One solution is to look for domestic markets.
However, the general poverty of the population in the West does not actually
provide the market for these goods. It would require a lot of investments by
the state on infrastructure and employment opportunities before the West can be
a significant market for domestic goods.
Politically,
the tensions and conflicts between the Han and the national minorities is one
key issue in the question of development of the West. When a Hong Kong
delegation of businessmen was to visit the West to probe investment
possibilities, a statement of serious warning was issued by the East Turkistan
Information Centre which is an organization fighting for Xinjiang independence.
There was also a serious confrontation between Han and Uygur students of the
Chang-an University in Xian. Foreign investments into Xinjiang were seen by the
East Turkistan Information Centre as incurring massive migration of the Han
people into Xinjiang, causing Han-ification of Xinjiang against the minorities
there.
Socially
speaking, the instabilities of Chinese society are aggravating. Zeng Qinghong,
Director of the CPC Organizational Department, wrote a report entitled “Investigation
Report of China 2000-2001: Study of the people’s internal
contradictions under a new situation”. It pointed out that
the indignation of the general populace about social and economic inequalities,
corruption of officials and indifference of cadres has seriously aggravated.
There is an increase in economic, ethnic and religious confrontations. Massive
protests are spreading everywhere, and participants sometimes numbered over
10,000. The rural-urban, East-West and rich-poor gaps have widened to a point
of warning. “Our
accession to the WTO may bring more risks and pressures, and it is expected
that more mass actions may erupt and seriously affect social stability, or even
affect the peaceful implementation of Reform and Open Door policy.”[1]
What
people are most discontent with, according to the “Survey report
on the mentality of Chinese urban population” published by the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is employment, corruption, serious divide
between the rich and the poor, and deterioration of social morality. 88.9% of
the interviewees were most discontent with the question of urban employment.[2]
As
for government investments in the West, despite the rhetoric about increasing
investments, the weight of investment between the Eastern, Central and Western
zones has been unfavourable to the West. The Eastern zone constitutes 10% of
the country’s
area, but received, in 1999, fixed assets investments of 1,294 billion yuan as
compared to 477.3 billion yuan and 344.6 billion yuan for the central and
western zones respectively. In 2000, the figures were, respectively, 1401.5 bn,
543.2 bn, and 394.3 bn.[3]
In 2001, the government announced that investment into the Western zone will be
around 300 bn yuan.[4]
Without
a radical increase in government investment, the hope of investments for
developing the West goes to private foreign investments. Favourable conditions
have been offered. The state has announced three tariff concessions for
investments going to the Western zone. Various provinces make their own
concessionary offers. Shaanxi Province promised that when outsiders buy up
state-owned enterprises, they need not commit to the old debts; procedures will
be simplified to facilitate investments; the government will take care of the
relocation of surplus labourers. A Hong Kong businessman, coming back from the
visit, commented that the promises made by the government “were
too good to be credible.”
Xinjiang
also offered concessionary measures, including allowing foreign investments to
own development rights, market sharing rights and others. As for land use
rights, there were also concessions on rent or sale price.[5]
Four days after report of the above measures was published, Wen Hui Bao again
published a statement by Hu Zhizhi, Director of the Land Use Bureau under the
China National Land Resources Department, which reiterated that land is state
owned property and that land transactions at prices lower than those stipulated
in state regulations are not allowed, and such acts may be regarded as criminal
acts.[6]
China
has an annual foreign capital inflow at USD 42.7 billion. Up to the end of
April this year, 371,000 foreign enterprises have been allowed to operate in
China. The total investment fund of contracts signed with foreign investors
amounted to USD 696.9 billion, and the actual amount in usage was USD 359.5
billion. It is expected that after China’s accession to WTO,
annual inflow of foreign funds will exceed USD 50 billion. As for Hong Kong’s
investments in mainland China, up to end of April this year, it was USD 174.2
billion, which was 48% of China’s total foreign investment. After the
announcement of China’s development of the Western zone, some Hong
Kong newspapers and businessmen have been using the term “conquest
of the West”.
This indicates the mentality of capitalist conquest. One serious concern that
has been expressed is the ruthless exploitation of natural resources and the
dire consequences for the environment. One example is that the Xinjiang
Construction Corps has stated its decision to develop the dyeing industry,[7]
and in Xinjiang where water resources are very much in shortage and much
reliance is on underground water, the consequences for the environment is
unimaginable.
Scramble
for profits and exploitation of the natural resources are some of the driving forces behind the
development of the West.
28 June 2001
[1] Quoted from Apple Daily June 6,
2001, and Oriental Daily June 4, 2001.
[2] Quoted from Ming Pao, May 3, 2001, on 2001 Social Blue Paper
published by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
[3] The 2000 figures were from the 2000 bulletin of the
State Statistics Bureau; the 1999 figures were calculated from the increase
percentage indicated in the above bulletin.
[4] The figures were revealed by Li Zibin, Deputy Director
of the State Council Western Zone Development Bureau, and reported by Wen
Hui Bao, May 12.
[5] Wen Hui Bao May 29.
[6] Wen Hui Bao June 2.
[7] Ming Pao, May 30.