West China is home to a third of the country's administrative
provinces and autonomous regions. It covers an area of 5.4 million
square kilometers, or 56 percent of mainland territory, and has a
combined population of over 280 million, or 23 percent of the
national total.
These regions have come to be described as "barren, remote,
poor, large, yet valuable and beautiful." It lacks transportation
facilities and access, and lags behind other parts of the country
in terms of development and economy.
This is why one man has spent nearly the last 10 years pushing
for greater contribution from the government towards West China
development.
Ji Jinshan is an economist with the Southwest University of
Finance and Economics, and vice director of the Counselor's Office
of the Sichuan provincial government. He was a deputy of the Ninth
(1998 - 2002) National People's Congress (NPC), and was re-elected
for another term for the Tenth NPC (2003- 2007).
As of March 2006, he had submitted 40 motions and 121 proposals
in his capacity as NPC deputy. Among them, 35 motions and 83
proposals had to do with West China.
Ji's first proposal, submitted during the First Session of the
Ninth National People's Congress in 1998, put the spotlight on the
unbalanced development in the different regions in China. "The
expanding gap between the East and the West China regions does no
good to reform, national development and social stability, and it
will undermine the establishment of a modern enterprise system and
a unified national market," he pointed out in his proposal.
The following year, he proposed a West China Development motion,
and called for a systematic solution to the growth of
underdeveloped regions.
"The most unforgettable thing is that when I inspected western
regions together with a national delegation in May 2000, I saw how
hard life was in remote areas, the appalling conditions for local
school kids and a damaged environment.”
Since then, he has been researching the subject and has written
dozens of reports based on his first-hand investigations. In
February 2005, he published a book entitled, Opinions on
Accelerating the Development of West China.
The Chinese government initiated a West China development
strategy in 1999, setting up a national leading office,
promulgating preferential policies for western provinces and
autonomous regions and promising huge investments in
transportation, infrastructure and environment protection.
This, however, was not adequate enough in Ji's opinion. He
insisted that legislation was necessary to regulate development and
ensure consistent implementation of the policy.
His tenacity paid off. In 2002, his motion was accepted for
consideration and has since been put on the legislation agenda.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Ji has now turned his attention
to social issues. He is currently garnering mass support for two
new proposals that he has submitted at the ongoing NPC session; one
proposal concerns countryside construction, and the other relates
to the joint-stock reform of core state enterprises.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Tang Fuchun, March 11,
2007)