From the China Daily (h/t astroturfer 3d1k):
China is betting on its western development program to lead a new round of economic growthas the government is mulling “differentiated” policies for the region that will feature huge spending on infrastructure, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.
“We will roll out more preferential policies tailored for the western region concerninginfrastructure projects, to accelerate the construction and upgrading of rail and road networks,”he said.
He made the remark during a meeting with heads of the western provinces in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province.
His comments coincide with a policy announced by the State Council on Monday to prioritizerailway construction in the country’s central and western areas as well as economically underdeveloped regions.
Li was on a three-day inspection tour in Gansu, which started on Saturday.
China will try to maintain sustainable economic growth and improve people’s livelihoods in thenext decade, and the central and western areas provide adequate room for further growth, Lisaid, adding that healthy economic development in the western region holds the key to the country’s overall economic health.
“Differentiated policies” should be drafted for the western region, he said.
…Wang Jun, a senior economist at China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a topgovernment think tank, said western development is key to China’s economic restructuring andthe transformation of its growth pattern.
Wang Jun said the premier has sent a clear signal to boost western development, and “morespecific measures are expected in the coming months” that will cover railway construction,urban renovation and improvement in the medical system.
I’ll note that “huge” new spending is relative. Also, that the push West is not new, and has been running since 2000. This does not look like another round of stimulus of the magnitude of past surges. The differentiated development appears to fit with the more targeted approach we’ve seen in the “chosen cities” approach and makes sense in tandem with the larger structural shift that China is undertaking, as I argued yesterday.
