China’s Inland Provinces Get a Pep Talk

Since China opened to the world in 1979, its coastal areas, with a stronger industrial base, skilled labor and easier access to world markets, have boomed while inland regions have lagged.

The fastest growing sector of the economy--rural industry, which is increasing by more than 20 a year--is concentrated in the coastal regions. But China has told the poor inland provinces not to worry that the gap will widen.

In a front-page editorial, the People’s Daily recently said that “some comrades” in inland areas believed they would fall further and further behind coastal areas, which receive special treatment so they can compete better in world markets.

It said the inland areas should see it as a team effort in a relay race, in which they run the early legs and pass the baton to the coastal regions, the star running the final leg.

“The gap cannot be shortened in one day,” it said. “People should not be impatient.”

The editorial touched on a very sensitive issue in a country committed to broad equality of income. The People’s Daily said the role of inland areas was to assist the coast in its export drive by supplying raw materials.

Official figures throw doubt on whether the inland areas can serve as suppliers of energy and key raw materials to the coast as Beijing intends. Severe congestion on China’s overcrowded rail system and production shortfalls limit their ability to do so, according to figures published in the Economic Information newspaper. It said only 906 railway wagons were available to carry steel in the first quarter, instead of 3,096 as planned, so many factories did not get the raw materials they needed.

Shortages in timber were also very serious, with one Peking factory getting less than 40% of its planned supply. The inland areas also failed to supply the coast with coal needed in the first quarter, the paper reported. Planned supplies of coal to Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong and Jiangsu, all major export and industrial centers, fell short by 1.6 million metric tons and planned exports of coal were short by 1.32 million metric tons. A metric ton is about 10% more than an ordinary ton.

A survey of 425 state firms published in the Beijing Financial Times recently found that nearly half received less raw material in the first quarter than in the same period last year and their power shortages were getting worse.