New Silk Road starts with Xian
G. Bin Zhao says a Silk Road economic belt, with Xian at the centre, should be part of a long-term strategy to bring economic prosperity to China's underdeveloped western region
President Xi Jinping has again repeated his desire to create a Silk Road economic belt following a recent visit to Kazakhstan, where he proposed the idea as a way for European and Asian nations to promote closer economic ties.
In addition to its international strategic significance, the creation of the Silk Road belt would enhance economic development in western China, and have a far-reaching impact on regional development in general.
As China gradually moves forward with a new round of reform and opening up, the recent overall slowdown in economic growth has led to expectations that the development of western China will become the next great economic growth point. Furthermore, at the national level, there is a clear need to create a regional economic centre in western China.
Without economic development in the western region, a vast country like China cannot modernise
Therefore, the creation of this so-called economic belt, with Xian as the leading city, has become a priority. It will promote the western region and transform it into the fourth national economic pole along with the Yangtze River, the Pearl River Delta Region, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Economic Zone.
The creation of the Silk Road economic belt should be included as a part of the long-term development strategy for China, and the Greater Xian area - a region covering more than 12,000 square kilometres - should be designated as the core of this economic region.
Years of experience have shown that large-scale urban development and construction can have a significant effect in leading regional economic development. Xian, the historical starting point of the ancient Silk Road and the economic centre of northwest China - as well as a world famous historical, cultural, and international tourist city - is the best choice to be at the core of this economic belt.
In June 2009, the State Council issued the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone Development Plan, which stated that the area would be developed as a "strategic high ground for national economic development and opening up". Xian, as the largest city in this economic zone, was to have had an important role to play. Since that time, however, the region has not gained any significant policy support at the national level.
Without the strong support of the central government in promoting the balanced development of the region, capital and technology cannot be expected to automatically converge in the more economically backward regions, and this is especially true in the market-oriented economy we strive to build.
