A cabinet-level office should be set up to accelerate the development of Central China, three non-communist parties suggested at the on-going CPPCC session.
China Zhigong Party (Public Interest Party), the China Democratic League and the Revolutionary Committee of Chinese Kuomintang, three of China's eight non-communist parties, each tabled a proposal on how to speed up economic development in the country's central regions, which cover the provinces of Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan.
Last year's central economic work conference made accelerating Central China's development one of the six major economic tasks this year.
The initiative, also known as "Central China's Emerging," was adopted against the backdrop of a widening prosperity gap between the country's coastal areas and the hinterlands.
Momentum in the "go west" campaign, aimed at developing the country's western region and a revival plan for country's Northeast rust belt is continuing apace, while development of the central region is markedly slow, China Zhigong Party's proposal said.
In terms of gross domestic product and fiscal revenue growth, Central China's development is below the national average.
And in 2003, the per capita income of its farmers was also lower.
How to co-ordinate regional development, especially what steps to take to boost its economy and improve living standards, is becoming a major challenge in mapping out the country's regional economic development strategy, Zhigong Party wrote in its proposal.
China Democratic League proposed to set up a cabinet-level office to co-ordinate Central China's development, a similar arrangement as the "Go West" campaign and Northeast revival plan, for which two cabinet-level offices have been established.
It also recommends that those offices be under one roof and the remit of a proposed Regional Development Co-ordination Office of the State Council. This will help to effectively co-ordinate regional economic development tasks.
China Zhigong Party also proposed that "Central China's Emerging," as a regional development strategy, be incorporated into the country's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), currently being drafted.
(China Daily March 7, 2005)
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