The central government will give greater financial support to its
underdeveloped areas, said Su Ming, deputy director of the Research
Institute for Fiscal Science under China's Ministry of Finance.
Addressing a seminar Tuesday on the competitive development of
Chinese cities, Su said that each year half of the central fiscal
revenue comes from local areas and half of which comes from China's
eastern areas.
"In another word, the revenue from the eastern areas equals to the
total sum from both central and western areas of the country," he
added.
"The big revenue gap between different areas means that China's
central government needs to put more money into underdeveloped
areas to back-up their economic growth," the economist said.
Financial reinforcement to the underdeveloped areas shows the
equality principle in the country's macro-economy, he said, noting
that in Germany, people with high incomes are required to
contribute to subsidizing those with low incomes.
"It is a lesson worth learning," Su said.
(Xinhua News
Agency August 14, 2002)