By Wang Zhe

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Coordination Aims to Address Unbalanced Development

By Wang Zhe

Since 2011， when the 12th Five-Year Plan started， China has seen remarkable socio-economic development. As the second largest economy， it has grown into the world's biggest commodity trader and a major foreign investor. Income of its rural and urban residents has achieved annual average growth of nearly 10 percent.

Despite that， unbalanced，uncoordinated and unsustainable development remains a pronounced problem. There are 70 million poverty-stricken people in the rural areas， an imbalance in economic and social development. To resolve the problems，the Chinese government advocated emphasizing coordinated development of urban and rural areas，promoting coordinated development of the economy and society， and developing the new types of industrialization， applications of information technologies， urbanization and agricultural modernization. While enhancing the country's hard power， it also eyes soth power for overall development.

Zhang Zhanbin， Director of the School of Economics in the Chinese Academy of Governance， made this comment： “In the past， we kept stressing ‘coordinated development'. Now， we put this concept in an even higher position， which will have a big bearing on adjusting the development of the economy and society across the country. Also， this puts forward new requirements for development during the 13th Five-Year Plan.”

Coordinated Development in Six Aspects

In an interview， Professor Xu Yaotong from the Chinese Academy of Governance said： “Faced with pressures under the new normal in economic development， coordinated development is the key to solving problems. Coordination means to take all aspects of the complicated affairs into account without stressing one side while neglecting another.”

According to Xu， coordinated development needs a global viewpoint and comprehensive consideration. the key lies in coordination to ensure balance between rural and urban areas， and between eastern and western regions. Only in this way can China reflect the reality of its unbalanced development.

Zhong Jun， Director of the Department of Economic and Social Construction in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences，observed： “At present， the social structure sees a mismatch in the economic structure，as the structure of employment， urban areas， social classes， population and family do not match that of industries and consumption patterns. As a result， the wealth gap extends from the economic area to society，and the gaps in the economic resources are matched by those in social resources.”

Coordinated socio-economic development needs to reflect and keep pace with development of new types of industrialization， applications of information technologies， urbanization and agricultural modernization.

Wang Jun， Deputy Head of the Department of Information in the China Center for International Economic Exchanges （CCIEE）， believes “the concept of coordinated development must emphasize its integrity， even though some fields develop at a faster speed. In particular， some achievements or the faster speed in their development were made in the past at the expense of environment and people's well-being. Coordinated development means to keep a close eye on the new normal of economic development， and to make up for missing or weak elements in an effort to gain balance and coordination.”

Remedying Barrel Principle's Short Boards

According to the proposal outline for the 13th Five-Year Plan， as of 2020， the target is to build a moderately prosperous society： Agricultural modernization will make remarkable achievements； people's living standards and quality of life will be generally improved； poverty-stricken people in rural areas will shake off their backwardness under the current standard set in China and regional poverty will be reduced as a whole.

In modern management terms， the Barrel Principle tells us that the capacity of a barrel depends on the shortest， rather than the longest， board. The 13th Five-Year Plan proposal especially emphasizes the concept of coordinated development，focusing on extending the short boards inthe period， including providing basic public services equally to different regions， and equally to rural and urban areas， and balanced allocation of public resources. To be specific， public services should be ensured in the aspects of water and gas supply，roads， electricity， elderly care， health care and education.

In the future， targeted measures to help people lift themselves out of poverty will focus on employment transfers， relocation and full inclusion into the basic living allowance arrangements to help 70 million rural people to shake off poverty. Efforts will also be made to continue to have industry nurturing agriculture， urban areas supporting rural areas， improving the system for integrated development in urban and rural areas， and promoting equal exchanges and rational allocation of rural and urban elements. In particular， the pace will be quickened to provide basic public services to urban and rural areas in an equitable way， making it possible for everyone to contribute to and share in the fruits.

According to Xu Yaotong， “for coordinated development， we need to pay attention to development as a whole. this means we must expand unilateral development into multilateral development and remedy the existing short boards in as many fields as possible. Only in this way can we improve the efficiency of development and keep the achievements steady. When defining a moderately prosperous society， the key is to observe the condition of farmers.”

The overall economy in China will grow more robust once the short boards in rural areas and in the West are remedied. To develop new types of industrialization，applications of information technologies，urbanization and agricultural modernization at the same pace and enhance the country's soth power， coordinated development will ensure a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. Coordinated development in rural and urban areas will help ensure economic restructuring and alleviate the economic downward pressure.

Pursuing Premium Equilibrium Concept

Farmers harvesting marigolds in Bijie， Guizhou Province

On this vast land of China， different regions inevitably develop in different degrees. Data shows that， although the widening trend is effectively restrained， the gap in regional development remains large compared to developed countries. GDP per capita in higher-income regions is five or six times of that in lower-income regions，while this figure is generally no more than two or three in developed countries. Data indicates that bridging the regional gap among the East， the middle and the West is almost equal to the growth across the country.

Imbalanced and uncoordinated development needs to be researched and resolved in a more targeted way during the 13th Five-Year Plan. “Coordination”means joint efforts， an even match and appropriate cooperation. It needs dynamic and premium balance， instead of emphasizing “even” only. Development at the same pace permits slow progress within a certain range， rather than the biased or evenly-shared achievements so far. Gaps and differences in development do exist and cannot be ignored. The key to tackle them is to hold them within an appropriate range.

Zhang Zhanbin stressed that efforts must be made to balance the development structure and promote coordinated development among regions and between rural and urban areas. By way of enhancing the quality and efficiency of development，economic growth is strengthened in a real sense to achieve coordinated speed，growth， quality and benefit.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan， the concept of regional governance will be officially introduced. Guided by the economic integration among administrative regions，governments， associations， companies and residents will all join in the efforts on regional planning， regional coordination，administrative division adjustment and regional legislation， in an attempt to achieve the goals of industrial collaboration， infrastructure connectivity， eco-environment protection and allocation of elements promoting market mobility.

Since the beginning of the 21st century， China has carried out the balanced development strategy， including large-scale development of the western region， fully revitalizing old industrial bases in northeast China， and working vigorously to promote the rise of the central region. In the future，in the major push to implement the Belt and Road Initiative， the new pattern of full opening-up will be forged both on the land and in the sea， and both in the eastern and the western regions.

Efforts will be redoubled to push the orderly and free flow of elements， promote effective constraints of the main functions，provide basic public services in an equitable way， and enhance the bearing capacity of resources and environment， giving impetus to the new pattern of regional coordinated development.