Doubling income is easy, narrowing regional gap is anything but (2)

MEANINGFUL CHANGE

At its 18th National Congress held in mid-November, the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced plans to double the 2010 GDP and per capita income for both urban and rural residents by 2020.

As there are only eight years left to meet the target, legislators from undeveloped regions are competing to make poverty elimination proposals to the State Council, or China's cabinet.

Zhong Mian, vice governor of southwest China's Sichuan Province cautioned against using averages as a gauge to evaluate the improvement of people's living standards.

"A rise in average income does not necessarily mean a meaningful life-of-quality improvement in underdeveloped regions," said Zhong.

He urged the State Council to grant more transfer payments to undeveloped regions and narrow regional disparities related to public utilities and services.

Ma Yufeng, mayor of Baoding, said he doesn't think meeting the 2020 target is a bridge too far to cross.

"Using averages as a measurement, we see no significant problem in meeting the income-doubling goal. The real challenge for us comes from the poverty-stricken population. Helping the needy is a matter of fairness and justice," said the NPC deputy.

"Monolithic macro-management policies that don't take regional disparity into account will put poverty-stricken regions at a disadvantage," said Wang Hailin, director of the Sichuan Provincial Economic and Information Commission and a deputy to the NPC.

"The State Council must figure out tailor-made incentives to boost the development of undeveloped regions," Wang said.

In early February, the State Council issued a guideline on income redistribution reform, although the details of its implementation have yet to be announced.

Describing regional disparity as an issue that is essential to the overall health and efficiency of China's economy, Du said helping undeveloped interior regions cultivate advantageous industries will help narrow the gap.

"A more effective way is to facilitate the smooth flow of production factors between the interior and the east coast for more coordinated development," said Du.

(Zhou Erjie, Li Yunlu, Ren Qinqin, Wang Chengcheng and Wang Kun also contributed to this story.)