Chinese cities compete to be fourth economic growth pole
China's regional economic development during the next five years may focus on setting up a new city group as the fourth economic growth pole.This was revealed by a source involved in the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held in Beijing from October 15 to 18 to discuss the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).
China has three city groups as economic growth poles: the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the city groups around the Bohai Sea. The fourth pole is expected to achieve a balanced and coordinated regional development around the country.
The China Development Report 2010, which came out in September 21, referred to eight city groups as the main areas for development, including Hadaqi (Harbin, Daqing and Qiqihar in Heilongjiang Province), Changji (Changchun and Jilin) in Jilin Province, the central Shannxi Plain, Chengdu and Chongqing.
Scholars from western China said that if the country set the city group of Xi'an, Chengdu and Chongqing as the main body and builds an economic zone in western China, the area will push the country's Western Development program and grow into the "fourth pole" of the country's economy.
Peng Zhimin, director of the Institute of Yangtze River Economics of the Hubei Academy of Social Sciences (HASS), said that China's intention to foster a new city group as the fourth engine is very obvious, and that the central area's need to become the fourth engine is becoming more urgent.
As early as 1987, the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Henan had joined hands to set up an economic cooperation zone, and aimed to become the country's fourth economic growth engine. Recently, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi have also been considering if they should form a city group with Wuhan, Changsha and Nanchang at the center, with the aim of becoming the fourth economic growth pole.
Ye Qing, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that the different geography in the western area and central area determine the different economic development level and the industrial structure. Overall, central China has more advantages than the western part of the country, including the transportation, economic development level, geography and some other resources. But the cities in the area need more cooperation.
In addition, the economic zone on the western coast of Taiwan and the city group in the central plains, comprising the middle and lower reaches of the Huanghe River (Yellow River), also aim to be the fourth pole.
Su Hainan, vice director of the China Association for Labor Studies, said that the country will also include the income distribution into the 12th Five-Year Plan. He also said that in the last 10 years, the growth of people's incomes in China could not keep pace with the growth of GDP, therefore the plan will incorporate keeping GDP and incomes growing more proportionately, and controlling the income distribution.
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