Sharing Advantages and Resources

By staff reporter LUO YUANJUM & YI FAN

China's largest regional cooperation project to date, 9 + 2 Regional Cooperation encompasses eight provinces: Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan; Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao. It is based on mutual complementation of advantages and sharing of resources.

Huang Xiaojing, vice governor of Fujian Province.

Fujian: Adjacent to Taiwan

       Huang Xiaojing, vice governor of Fujian Province, so describes its advantages: "Fujian's location is very special. Fujian will expand its scope of cooperation in an all-round way, promoting cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao; between the Pearl and Yangtze River Deltas, and between provinces and autonomous regions in the interior."

       Situated in China's southeastern coastal area, Fujian faces Taiwan and is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao; on its southern border is the Pearl River Delta and to its north the Yangtze River Delta. Fujian has a landmass of 121,400 square kilometers and maritime area of 136,300 square kilometers. Its population is 34.88 million. In 2003 the provincial GDP was 523.1 billion yuan, and revenue 55.27 billion yuan.

Advantages: Location, harbors.

Huang Zhiquan, governor of Jiangxi Province.

Jiangxi: Pivot of the Three Deltas

       Says Huang Zhiquan, governor of Jiangxi Province: " Our aim is to build Jiangxi into an acceptance base for gradient industrial transfers from developed coastal areas, a supply base for excellent agricultural and agricultural by-products, and an export base for labor, and a tourism and leisure resort. The PPRD cooperation will provide abundant funding support for Jiangxi's development."

Jiangxi is in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It adjoins Guangdong Province to the south, Hunan Province to the west, and Fujian Province to the east. Jiangxi covers an area of 166,900 square kilometers. By the end of 2003 its population stood at 42.54 million.

Jiangxi is adjacent to the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Mindongnan Delta.

Advantages: Location, supply base for agricultural and agricultural by-products, labor export base.

Zhou Bohua, governor of Hunan Province.

Hunan: Mecca for Business people

Says Zhou Bohua, governor of Hunan Province: "Hunan will open up its most advantageous industries, enterprises with the best economic performance and markets with the greatest potential to PPRD members and support participation by companies and enterprises from Hong Kong and Macao in property right reforms and capital reorganization of Hunan's state-owned enterprises. Hunan will benefit from the cooperation in terms of industrial structural optimization and abundant capital."

Hunan Province covers an area of 211,800 square kilometers and has a population of 66.62 million.

Advantages: Resources, energy, location.

Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong Province.

Guangdong: Dual Role of Bridge and Vanguard

Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong Province asserts: "Guangdong will exert every effort to encourage and lend its support to entrepreneurs investing in other provinces and autonomous regions, Hong Kong and Macao. It will advance Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation."

Guangdong Province is at the southernmost point of China's mainland, with Guangzhou as its capital. It shares land borders with Hong Kong and Macao. It covers an area of 179,800 square kilometers, making up 1.85 percent of China's total territory.

Advantages: Capital, technologies, location.

Yang Daoxi, vice-chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Guangxi: Remarkable Advantages and Attractive Opportunities

As described by Yang Daoxi, vice-chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region: "Guangxi will do a good job on China-ASEAN Expo, accelerating construction of an international thoroughfare, strengthening industrial cooperation and exploitation of resources, uniting to develop modern logistics industry, actively promoting ecological construction and environmental protection in the Pearl River Valley, and optimizing the soft environment for investment. Guangxi will seek opportunities of development by serving as a base for industrial transfer from developed areas."

Neighboring Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to the east, Central China to the north, and Yunnan and Guizhou to the northwest, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region shares a western border with Vietnam. It is one of China's five ethnic autonomous regions and has a population of 48.57 million, of which the Zhuang ethnic group makes up 33 percent. It covers an area of 236,700 square kilometers.

Advantages: Location, resources, policies.

Wei Liucheng, governor of Hainan Province.

Hainan: China's Sole Tropical Tourism Destination

       Says Wei Liucheng, governor of Hainan Province: "Implementation of Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation provides a great opportunity for Hainan to develop further. We will work on the principle of building Hainan into a new industrial province and construct a tropical high-efficiency agricultural base and tropical sea island leisure and holiday resorts. We seek to build our own special characteristics that feature our role in the cooperation and develop through the cooperation."

Hainan Province is off the southernmost tip of China. Its capital city is Haikou. Encompassing Hainan Island and the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Archipelagos and their dependent waters, Hainan Province covers a land area of 35,000 square kilometers and a sea area of approximately 2 million square kilometers. In April 1988 Hainan became independent of Guangdong and was made a province and a special economic zone. It is China's youngest province, largest special economic zone, and one of China's seven key tourist destinations.

Advantages: Tourism, resources.

Sichuan: Big in Population, Resources and Economy

Zhang Zhongwei, governor of Sichuan Province, says: "Sichuan will create a good environment for development, further open markets and synchronize market order. In the PPRD cooperation Sichuan will give a good play to its resources advantages."

One of western China's bigger provinces, Sichuan has a population of 87 million. Its capital city is Chengdu. In 2003 the provincial GDP was 545.63 billion yuan.

Sichuan is the core of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, and a part of the Yangtze River Valley Economic Belt, Southwest Economic Zone, and Pan-Pearl River Delta.

Advantages: Location, resources, industry.

Shi Xiushi, governor of Guizhou Province.

Guizhou: Make Full Use of Resources Advantages

Shi Xiushi, governor of Guizhou Province says: "The establishment of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation opens wider channels of cooperation between Guizhou and the ASEAN Free Trade Zone. Guizhou welcomes cooperation with other provinces and autonomous regions in various fields."

Guizhou is on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in Southwest China. Its neighbors are Hunan Province to the east, Guangxi to the south, Yunnan to the west and Sichuan and Chongqing to the north. Its capital city is Guiyang. The total area of Guizhou is 176,100 square kilometers. In 2003 its total population, comprising 49 ethnic groups, was 38.6966 million.

Advantages: Energy and mineral resources, tourism resources, ethnic pharmaceuticals, characteristic eco-agriculture, modern logistics.

Xu Rongkai, governor of Yunnan Province.

Yunnan: Geared to the ASEAN Countries 

Xu Rongkai, governor of Yunnan Province, says, "Yunnan will build an international land thoroughfare linking the Pacific and Indian oceans and serve as a big platform for economic, trade, scientific-technological, cultural and friendly exchanges with Southeast and South Asia. The PPRD cooperation will help build Yunnan into a service industry giant."

Yunnan Province is China's gateway to Southeast and South Asia, situated at the juncture of three great markets: China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. It has a total area of 394,000 square kilometers and a population of 43 million.

Advantages: Resources, location.

Tung Chee-hwa,chief executive of HK SAR.

Hong Kong SAR: Bellwether of PPRD

Tung Chee-hwa，chief executive of HK SAR, says, "Within the Pan-Pearl River Delta Regional Cooperation Hong Kong will bring into play its advantages of finance, logistics, tourism resources and specialized services, and serve as high value-added service center. It will help the PPRD economy to develop further, and serve as a platform for Sino-foreign economic cooperation."

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. It is south of Guangdong Province, facing the South China Sea, and to the east of the Pearl River Estuary. It borders Macao to the west, and the Shenzhen Special Economic zone to the north. It covers 1,098 square kilometers and has a population of 6.8 million.

Hong Kong practices the policy of free trade, has advanced infrastructure facilities and telecommunications network. It is a world-class financial, trading and business center and a communications hub.

Advantages: Finance, logistics.

Edmund Ho Hau-wah, chief executive of Macao Special Administrative Region.

Macao SAR: Further Develop Commercial Service Platforms

Edmund Ho Hau-wah, chief executive of Macao Special Administrative Region, says: "Macao will accelerate its pace of creating multiple regional commercial service platforms, and coordinate relationships between Portuguese-speaking countries, EU countries and the Chinese mainland. Macao will serve as go-between for PPRD's medium-sized and small enterprises and overseas enterprises."

Macao Special Administrative Region is south of Guangdong Province on the western bank of the Pearl River Estuary. It has a total area of 21.09 square kilometers and. a population of 400,000.

Advantages: Foreign trade, tourism.