Environment a valuable asset

Developing the less-developed inland areas is not only a responsibility for the local governments concerned, it is a joint endeavor for all parties, said an article in People's Daily on Thursday.

The mayor of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, North China, said he felt ashamed that the city's economy grew 3 percent last year, only one-third of the 9 percent target. Around the same time in Shanghai, the head of Pudong district, for the first time, just listed promoting innovation and bridging income gaps as the main target without mentioning GDP. That the two places are in different development phases influences local governments' understanding of economic growth.

It is unrealistic to require the governments of less-developed regions to intentionally downplay growth targets. To balance the speed of growth and its quality, Beijing has made environmental health, the improvement of people's livelihoods, innovation, and energy consumption basic indexes in the new growth assessment mechanism.