Chairman of northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Ismail Tiliwaldi, talks to
China.org.cn about Xinjiang's development in the last five years
and what it has been like rebuilding the quake regions of Jiashi
and Bacu.
The chairman was in Beijing on March 5-18 attending the First
Session of the 10th National People's Congress.
After-quake Relief
An
earthquake that registered 6.8 on the Richter scale hit Xinjiang's
Bacu and Jiashi counties on February 24 this year. It killed 268
people and injured more than 4,000. About 18,000 buildings
collapsed with another 62,000 partly damaged by the quake.
Infrastructure facilities such as irrigation, electric wires,
bridges, and rural water supply projects were damaged seriously.
The authorities are evaluating the extent of the damage to
property.
Ismail Tiliwaldi expressed his gratitude towards the central
government's speedy help. "Rescue operations have worked smoothly
with the help of relevant departments and authorities. Over 4,000
armed police and soldiers were dispatched to the front line to help
the quake victims. By now, no one in the area is any longer a
victim of hunger, cold, or illness and no students have dropped
out," said the chairman.
The homeless have now been relocated to "live, study and work
temporarily" in cotton camps sprung up around the counties,
according to Ismail Tiliwaldi. Some farmers are even preparing for
the spring plowing and seeding the cotton.
"A
new kind of anti-quake house made of plastic and steel will
mushroom in the counties," he told China.org.cn. The houses are
featured for their heat protection and anti-quake function. Each
household will have such a building of 50 square meters with a
construction cost of 20,000 yuan (US$2,416) before the winter.
Preliminary public bidding work for the rebuilding projects is
proceeding.
People nationwide have given their aid to the quake victims in
almost no time. By now, Xinjiang has registered over 80 million
yuan donations and 20 million pieces of relief materials.
Rapid Development in Last Five Years
"The last five years are significant in Xinjiang's development,"
said the chairman. Riding high on annual growth of 7.8 percent in
the last five years, Xinjiang registered a GDP of 159.8 billion
yuan (US$19.31 billion) in 2002, 45.3 percent higher than 105
billion yuan (US$12.69 billion) in 1997. Its revenue was 21.2
billion yuan (US$2.56 billion) in 2002, 93 percent growth up from
11.1 billion (US$1.34 billion) yuan in 1997, with 14 percent annual
growth. In 2002, Xinjiang's foreign trade volume shot up to US$2.6
billion, 85.7 growth from US$1.45 billion in 1997.
Over the past five years, Xinjiang has put much effort into
developing its economy according to its resource strengths, Ismail
Tiliwaldi said. Xinjiang turned out 1.5 million tons of cotton,
accounting for 40 percent of the nation's total, in 2002. Over 20
million tons of crude oil, namely one-third of China's total
exploitation in 2002, were pumped out of Xinjiang. Moreover, the
fruit industry booms at a surprising pace. Xinjiang is the biggest
growing base for the meldar and tomato nationwide. The blossoming
tourism industry features also in its economic development
strategy. According to official accounts, Xinjiang received 270,000
foreign travelers in 2002 and 10 million domestic travelers.
Significant progress has been achieved in infrastructural
(facility) investment in the past five years. Ismail Tiliwaldi said
that total fixed asset investment within 1997-2002 period was 318.3
billion yuan (US$38.46 billion), 87 percent more than the total
investment within 1992-1996. In 2002, Xinjiang earmarked all its
social investment of 81.2 billion (US$9.81 billion) yuan for
infrastructural facility construction such as irrigation, energy
and railway. Though Xinjiang lies in vast desolated western China,
Ismail Tiliwaldi is proud of the telecommunication industry's
speedy investment. All counties and towns have already connected
with Autoexchange Net for long-distance calls.
Living standards improved obviously. According to Ismail Tiliwaldi,
urban citizens in Xinjiang had an average disposable income of
7,276 yuan (US$879) in 2002, much higher than 2,427 yuan (US$293)
in 1997. Suburban citizens also had an average disposable income of
1860 yuan (US$224), 371 yuan (US$42.40) more than that of 1997.
Xinjiang in the Go-west Strategy
The autonomous region has increased its investment since China
decided to develop its western region. In 2000, Xinjiang's
investment in fixed assets amounted to some 60 billion yuan
(US$7.25 billion), that later climbed to 70.2 billion yuan (US$8.48
billion), 81.2 billion yuan (US$9.81 billion) in 2001 and 2002
respectively. Xinjiang aims to achieve a fixed asset investment of
90 billion yuan (US$10.87 billion) in 2003 and over 100 billion
yuan (US$12.08 billion) in 2004.
"Xinjiang boasts rich resources with outstanding agricultural and
animal husbandry advantages," said Ismail Tiliwaldi, "Feature
agriculture is a key for turning the advantage of its resources
into an economic advantage." He thinks that Xinjiang should develop
a way to cut costs and improve the quality of its main crops such
as cotton. Some local red fruits like red radishes and tomatoes in
Tianshan Mountain are expected to play a role in the featured
economic strategy.
(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Yan Xinxia, translated by Alex Xu,
March 19, 2003)