(Economic Observation) The GDP list of China's provinces in 2020 is released. What is the significance of the "dark horse" in the west?
China News Service, Nanning, February 2 (Yang Chen, Huang Yirui) As of the beginning of February, China's 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have all released their 2020 GDP data, and the western region has become the largest "dark horse": Tibet, Guizhou, and Yunnan The GDP growth rate of 10 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government) has outperformed the national average growth rate, and Xi'an has entered the GDP "trillion club" for the first time.
What is the meaning behind the dazzling "report card" of the "counter-attack" in western China, which was once regarded as "old and young, bordered by mountains and poor"?
China's regional development is more coordinated and balanced
From the implementation of the Western Development Strategy in 2000 to the "One Belt One Road" initiative, China has been committed to promoting coordinated and balanced regional economic development in the medium and long term.
As a concrete practice of the “Belt and Road” construction, the new land-sea corridor in the west has pushed the western region from the periphery to the forefront of open cooperation.
Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, etc. borrowed from Guangxi to accelerate their “going to sea”, and Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang have gradually become inland open highlands.
It is precisely because of this business opportunity that a large number of central enterprises, private enterprises, Gulf (Taiwan) enterprises and foreign investment continue to enter the western region.
Take Guangxi as an example. In 2020, there will be 2302 local “three enterprises entering Guangxi” contracted projects with a total investment of 3.4 trillion yuan, and the compliance rate that year was nearly 80%.
Zhang Jianping, director of the Research Center for Regional Economic Cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Commerce, pointed out in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency that the strong economic growth in the western region is also due to the country's continuous increase in poverty alleviation and financial investment, and a series of economic support policies.
The transformation and upgrading of China's economic structure has also promoted the transfer of many industries in the east to the central and western regions.
The economic gap between the east and the west is gradually narrowing
In 2020, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong continue to lead the country in total GDP. Tibet, Guizhou, and Yunnan take the top three in the growth rate list. They still maintain the trend of "high in the east and low in the west" and "high in the west and low in the east". The economic gap between the ministries has gradually narrowed.
In recent years, the "overtaking" of western provinces has its own characteristics: Guizhou Province has taken the development of big data as a breakthrough, and has become the leader in GDP growth in the past five years. Its economic aggregate has risen from 25th to 20th in the national ranking. Advance one place every year.
Yunnan Province is speeding up the construction of a strong green manufacturing province, creating the "China Aluminum Valley" and the "World Photovoltaic Capital". The total economic output has risen by 5 ranks in 5 years, jumping to the 18th place.
The GDP of Sichuan Province has ranked 6th in China for many consecutive years, and the GDP of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province will jump to a new level of trillions for the first time in 2020.
Gao Zhigang, dean of the School of Economics at Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, believes that the rapid development of Sichuan's high-tech industries is also affected by factors such as convenient water and land transportation, open trade conditions, complete industrial infrastructure, and the "proliferation" of the Chengdu-Chongqing double-city economic circle. , The level of high-quality economic development continues to improve.
Shaanxi has the highest starting point for high-quality economic development among western provinces, regions, and municipalities. Relying on factors such as a good historical foundation, factor endowments and regional policies, the high-quality economic development level is steadily rising.
The overall development trend of other western provinces, regions and cities is good, showing an upward trend.
How to Upgrade the West during the 14th Five-Year Plan
2021 is the first year of the "14th Five-Year Plan". How will western China build an upgraded version in the next 5 years?
Ren Baoping, Dean of the Western China Economic Development Research Institute of Northwest University, suggested building a modern industrial system and forming a new pattern for the transformation of the western industrial economy; strengthening the connection and interaction between cities, and giving play to the radiation and diffusion effects of cities; Combine opening up; improve infrastructure construction, raise the level of public welfare, and take the path of sustainable development.
Zhang Jianping believes that the western region should focus on accelerating opening up and innovation, promoting the development and application of new business forms and models, and creating new economic growth points.
The current economic scale and economic base in the eastern and central regions are already relatively high, and the western region has obvious advantages as a late-comer.
Behind the rapid economic growth, the western region has also exposed problems such as environmental pollution and the prominent urban-rural "dual structure".
The three provinces and cities of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Chongqing have relatively high economic scales. Tibet, Qinghai, and Ningxia rank in the bottom three of the national list, which is far from the first three provinces and cities.
How to make regional development more coordinated and balanced in the future is a question that western provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) need to face.
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