No shortcuts to development

Governments in western region should improve people's livelihoods without threatening overall ecological safety

The Western Development Strategy adopted in 2000 has accelerated economic growth in the western region. Over the past decade, the GDP of the western region has increased from 1.6 trillion yuan ($263.5 billion) to 11.4 trillion yuan; its proportion in China's overall GDP had increased from 16.8 percent to 19.8 percent. The implementation of the Western Development Strategy has narrowed the development gap among different regions in China, and strengthened the coordination of regional development. The Western region's industrialization level has increased, and its economic endogenous growth capacity has been strengthened. The urbanization process has been accelerated, and it has risen from 29 percent in 2000 to 43 percent in 2011. Infrastructure construction and public service supply capacity have also increased significantly.

But in the process, many contradictions and problems have also been exposed. For example, development in the western region mainly focuses on extensive economic growth, the industrial structure level is rather low, the development between urban and rural areas is unbalanced, the driving forces for future development, such as infrastructure construction and a financial support mechanism are insufficient, and the fragile ecological environment may restrict development.