government policies: special economic zones (sez) china’s regional policy 5-year plans
TRANSCRIPT
What is a Special Economic Zone?• 1980 – Shenzhen SEZ set up – 1st of many• Designed to attract investors – foreign• Special tax incentives for foreign investors• Some joint ventures – Sino-British etc• Provincial level government• Mainly export-oriented• Market-driven• Largely labour-oriented• Increasing no’s of high-tech industries
Why Shenzen?• Close to Hong Kong – attract investment from
established firms there• Experiment in “socialism with Chinese
characteristics”• City population now over 8 million• Considered a successful project – taken up
elsewhere• Focus of Pearl River Delta area – China’s
economic powerhouse• 1990s - Shenzhen "one high-rise a day and one
boulevard every three days".
Rapid growth
• 1982 – 350,000
• 1990 – 1.3 mill i.e., a 245% increase
• 2000 – 2 mill, i.e., a 477% increase
• 2010 – 10.4 mill (approx 48% increase)
Which firms?Primarily manufacturing (often very high technology)
but also, increasingly, tertiary industries:• IBM• Huawei (telecommunications)• Skyworth (electronic components)• Apple - Taiwanese firm makes iPods, iPhones etc• Walmart• Ping An Insurance• Banking – China Merchants Bank
• 2010’s GDP - 95,000 yuan (US$14,615), 4th in country (same as Argentina & Malaysia, more than Lebanon & Mexico!)
What about the rest of the country?
• The core-periphery concept applied to China:
• Core – the eastern coastline & southern China to Hong Kong
• Periphery – the rest of the country• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/
impact_asia/8655134.stm
• What is the Core & Periphery concept?
Province Pop. % rural / urban
rural / urban p.a. growth % ethnic
income (RMB) minorities
Shaanxi 36m 67 / 33 1,186 / 4,891 0.71% 0.6
Gansu 25m 76 / 24 1,400 / 4,890 1.00% 8.3
Qinghai 5.8m 64 / 36 1,490 / 5,170 1.45% (2.5%)
44
Xinjiang 18m (>90% in oases)
1,618 / 5,817 1.28% 61.4
China 1,3b 64 / 36
Beijing 12m 3,441 / 8,493 c. 2.5%3m MWs?
Shanghai 17.7m 4,138 / 8,864 <1% 0.4
(4.4mMW)
5-year plans
• Government strategic plans first begun in 1953
• Each focuses on a particular strategic development need.
• 1st Plan – State ownership; collectivisation of farming along Soviet lines; centralised planning.
• Current (12th) 2011 – 2015.
• Current Plan includes: • secure economic growth &
economic structure,• urbanise the population – 52%• Develop HEP & nuclear energy• encourage sound, sustainable
developments• Increase length of high speed rail
line, roads, new airport for Beijing• New development inland• Coastal areas = R & D & high
end manufacturing, services.• Affordable housing• Encourage FDI – agriculture,
high-tech inds, environmental practices
• Control population @ 1.3bn.
Since the 1978 Reforms national & regional development have been the main focus of policy making.
Regional policies/strategies:
Coastal Development Strategy, Metropolitan Growth Pole Strategy, Western Development Strategy,Rejuvenating Northeast StrategyDeveloping the Middle Area Strategy