China's Ethnic Koreans Gain Government Support

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 06, 2002

China's Ethnic Koreans Gain Government Support

A year ago the Yanbian Korea Autonomous Prefecture, though located in Northeast China, began to enjoy all the favourable policies the government usually extends only to its western areas.

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A year ago the Yanbian Korea Autonomous Prefecture, though located in Northeast China, began to enjoy all the favourable policies the government usually extends only to its western areas.

And the preferential policies are beginning to bear fruit. Over the past year, the central government has provided a record 550 million yuan (US$66.3 million) in State treasury-bond investment to help improve Yanbian's infrastructure and build up key industrial projects.

Yanbian will host the 2002 Tumen River International Trade Fair early next month, and there are roughly 48 projects in the pipeline which, according to the country's "western development" policy package, will receive financial and technical aid from the government.

The projects include an express way linking Yanbian's port city of Hunchun to Jilin's capital of Changchun, according to Nan Xiangfu, the head of Yanbian.

When the State Council awarded financial aid, tax exemptions and helped with bold opening-up policies to Yanbian a year ago, the Koreans there - the largest concentration in China - took the news with delight and determination.

"By giving the Korean prefecture such supportive policies, the central government is again demonstrating its commitment to promoting the progress and prosperity of ethnic groups in China," said Tian Xueren, secretary of the Yanbian Committee of the Communist Party of China.

China's Constitution and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Ethnic Regional Autonomy stipulates that the State assist areas inhabited by ethnic groups to speed up their economic and cultural development.

The landmark decision to give the eastern area "western region" treatment has created a historic opportunity for Yanbian's economic takeoff, Tian said in an interview.

The country's northeast frontier is known for its abundant supply of timber and forest products like ginseng, its picturesque Changbai Mountains and its position neighbouring Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

But for years Yanbian has lagged behind many parts of China, partly because it pursued a policy of exporting resources, while investing little to improve economic performance, said Nan.

The inclusion of Yanbian as a beneficiary of the preferential policies is reshaping the social and economic landscape of the prefecture, as judged by current growth momentum, said Nan, himself a Korean.

Now Yanbian prefecture, founded on September 3, 1950, is opening to the outside world in a full-fledged manner and has received massive funds to do things it had longed to but could not, Nan said.

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