IV. The Central Government's Support and Assistance for Ethnic
Autonomous Areas
กก The Constitution stipulates, "The state will do its utmost to promote the
common prosperity of all the ethnic groups." The Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy
further clearly stipulates it as a legal obligation that higher state organs
should support and assist ethnic autonomous areas in speeding up their
development. To implement the provisions in the Constitution and the Law on
Regional Ethnic Autonomy, the Chinese government has adopted a series of
measures as follows:
(1) Giving Prominence to Speeding up the Development of Ethnic Autonomous
Areas
While formulating the national economic and social development plan, the
central government gives full respect and consideration to the characteristics
and needs of the ethnic autonomous areas, and gives strategic prominence to
speeding up their development inaccordance with the overall arrangement and
general requirements of national development. To accelerate the development of
China's western regions and ethnic autonomous areas, the Chinese government
launched a grand strategy for the development of western China in 2000, which
covers five autonomous regions, 27 autonomous prefectures and 83 of the 120
autonomous counties (banners). In addition, three other autonomous prefectures
are allowed to enjoy the preferential policies the state has adopted for the
western regions. During the five years since the launchingof the strategy of
development of the western part of the country,the construction of 60 important
projects has begun, with a total investment of 850 billion yuan. They play an
important role in promoting the economic and social development of the ethnic
autonomous areas.
(2) Giving Priority to and Rationally Arranging Infrastructure Projects in
Ethnic Autonomous Areas
When making arrangements for infrastructure construction and exploitation of
resources in ethnic autonomous areas, the central government appropriately
raises the proportion of investment and loans from policy banks, and grants the
local areas reduction or exemption from supplementary funding according to their
different conditions. Starting in the period of the First Five-Year Plan
(1953-1957), the Chinese government has arranged a batch of key construction
projects in ethnic autonomous areas, including the Baotou iron and steel base in
Inner Mongolia, Qingtongxia Hydropower Station in Ningxia, petroleum exploration
in Xinjiang and major highways linking Sichuan and Tibet, Qinghai and Tibet,
Xinjiang and Tibet, and main railway lines linking Baotou and Lanzhou, Lanzhou
and Xining, and Lanzhou and Urumqi. In the 1990s,large transport facilities were
constructed, including the railwayline between Zhongwei in Ningxia and Baoji in
Shaanxi, and the Nanjiang Railway and Tacheng Airport in Xinjiang. Since 2000,
the state has assisted ethnic autonomous areas to further convert their resource
advantages into economic advantages by investing inthe construction of a number
of key projects, such as the West-East Natural Gas Transmission Project,
West-East Power Transmission Project and Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
The state has made special arrangements for infrastructure construction and
the development of basic industries in Tibet. From 1984 to 1994, a total of 43
projects were constructed, with investment from the central government and
assistance from nine inland provinces and municipalities, totaling 480 million
yuan. From 1994 to 2001, some 30 projects were constructed with a total direct
investment of 3.9 billion yuan from the central government,and 32 projects were
completed with investment, totaling 960 million yuan, from the more developed
areas in the east. During the period of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001-2005),
the central government has invested 31.2 billion yuan in 117 projects in
Tibetalone.
Since 1999, the Chinese government has launched large-scale transport
infrastructure construction programs that were intended to benefit all ethnic
autonomous regions, such as "Outlet Highwaysfor Impoverished Counties," "Asphalt
Roads to Every County in Western China" and "Inter-County and Rural Highways."
Roads in rural areas and county-level roads totaling 225,000 km have been built
or renovated, with a total investment of almost 100 billion yuan. This has
markedly improved the formerly backward transport conditions in some areas
inhabited by ethnic minorities.
(3) Strengthening Financial Support for Ethnic Autonomous AreasWith the
development of the national economy and the growth in financial revenue,
governments at all levels have gradually increased transfer payments from the
exchequer to ethnic autonomous areas. Through ordinary transfer payments from
the exchequer, special-purpose transfer payments from the exchequer, transfer
payments from the exchequer according to preferential policies regarding ethnic
minorities, and other ways, the central government has increased the financial
input in ethnic autonomous areas to promote their economic development and
social progress, and gradually reduce the gap between them and the more
developed areas. The Chinese government has established some
special-purposefunds, including the "Subsidy for Ethnic Minority Areas"
established since 1955, and the "Stand-by Fund for Ethnic MinorityAreas" in
1964. Moreover, it has also adopted some preferential policies, such as raising
the proportion of reserve fund for ethnic minority areas, to help ethnic
autonomous areas develop their economies and raise the people's living
standards. In the 1980-1988 period, the central budget provided a set-quota
subsidy system with a yearly increase of 10 percent to Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang,
Guangxi, Ningxia and Tibet autonomous regions, as well as Yunnan, Guizhou and
Qinghai provinces, which have large numbersof ethnic-minority inhabitants. In
1994, the central government introduced a structural reform of its financial
management with the focus on a system of sharing tax revenue between the central
and local authorities, but the policies of providing subsidies andspecial
appropriations to ethnic minority areas have maintained. While adopting the
method of transitional transfer payment in 1995,the central government tilted
its policy toward the ethnic minority areas by adding special provisions
concerning the policy of transfer payments to ethnic minority areas, covering
Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Ningxia and Tibet autonomous regions,Yunnan,
Guizhou and Qinghai provinces and some autonomous prefectures of ethnic
minorities in other provinces.
(4) Attaching Importance to Ecological Construction and Environmental
Protection in Ethnic Autonomous Areas
All the four key areas and four key projects included in the National
Ecological Environment Construction Plan of the Chinese government are in ethnic
minority areas. The "Natural Forest Protection Project" and the projects for
converting farming land for forestry and pasture are mostly in ethnic minority
areas. Nearly half of the 226 national nature reserves are located in those
areas, including the Zoige Wetland Nature Reserve in Sichuanand the
Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve in Yunnan. In addition, the central government has
launched the "Project for Comprehensive Improvement of the Environment of the
Tarim Basin" in Xinjiang andthe "Project of Protection of the Source of the
Three Rivers" in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai, and attaches
greatimportance to the ecological improvement of the karst areas in southern
China.
(5) Adopting Special Measures to Help Ethnic Autonomous Areas Develop
Education
The state helps ethnic autonomous areas universalize nine-year compulsory
education and develop diverse forms of education. Ethnic autonomous areas are
key target areas for the state's plans to basically universalize nine-year
compulsory education andbasically eliminate illiteracy among the young and
middle-aged population. The "Compulsory Education Project for Impoverished
Areas" launched by the state is also geared to the ethnic minorityareas in
western China. Furthermore, the state also establishes institutes of higher
learning and opens classes and preparatory courses for ethnic minority students.
Institutes of higher learning and polytechnic schools have lowered admission
standards for ethnic minority students, and give special preference to
applicants from ethnic minorities with a very small population. Sofar, there are
13 institutes of higher learning for ethnic minorities in China. In more
developed areas there are middle schools for ethnic minorities and ethnic
minority classes in ordinary middle schools enrolling ethnic minority students.
To enhance training for high-level backbone personnel from ethnic minorities,
the Chinese government has decided, on an experimentalbasis, to enroll 2,500
students for Master's and PhD programs from ethnic minority areas in 2005, and
the goal of 2007 is to enroll 5,000 people, thus making the total number of such
studentsreach 15,000.
(6) Strengthening Assistance to Impoverished Ethnic Minority Areas
Since the mid-1980s, when the Chinese government launched its large-scale
poverty-alleviation drive in an organized and programmed way, ethnic minorities
and areas they live have always been key targets of governmental aid. Among the
331 impoverished counties designated as key recipients of state aid in 1986, 141
are in ethnic autonomous areas, accounting for 42.6 percent of thetotal. In
1994, the state began implementing a Seven-Year Program for Delivering 80
Million People out of Poverty, and among the 592impoverished counties designated
as key recipients of state aid 257 are in ethnic autonomous areas, accounting
for 43.4 percent ofthe total. The Outline Program for Poverty Alleviation and
Development in the Rural Areas of China, which began being implemented in 2001,
once again recognized ethnic minority areas as key targets for assistance. In
the 592 counties newly designated for state poverty alleviation and development,
267 are located in ethnic autonomous areas (excluding Tibet), accounting for
45.1 percent of the total. Tibet as a whole has been included as a target for
key poverty alleviation and development from the state.
In 1990, the state established the Food and Clothing Fund for Impoverished
Ethnic Minority Areas, aiming primarily at impoverished ethnic minority
counties. In 1992, the state established the Fund for Ethnic Minorities
Development, which is mainly used to deal with special difficulties encountered
in the development of ethnic autonomous areas, and in the production and lives
of ethnic minorities. Since 2000, the state has pursued a drive known as "More
Prosperous Frontiers and Better-off People Action," adopting special measures to
assist the 22 ethnic minority groups each with a population of less than
100,000, and focusing on infrastructure construction and the problem of food and
clothing for impoverished people in frontier regions and ethnic minority areas
with small populations.
(7) Increasing Input into Social Services in Ethnic Autonomous Areas
The state has increased input into health services in ethnic autonomous
areas, to raise the level of medical care for the people of those areas. In
2003, the central government appropriated special funds totaling 1.37 billion
yuan for health services in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Ningxia and Tibet
autonomous regions, which covered such aspects as public health, basic rural
health facilities, specialized hospitals, rural cooperative medical services and
control of serious diseases. In 1998, the Chinese government launched a project
to give every village access to radio and TV broadcasts, providing
special-purpose subsidies to key counties for national poverty-alleviationand
development in the central and western regions, which greatly promoted the
development of radio, film and TV services in ethnic minority areas. By the end
of 2003, with subsidies totaling 450 million yuan, over 70 million villagers in
117,345 administrative villages had gained access to radio and TV broadcasts.
The projectcovered 54,365 administrative villages in Inner Mongolia,
Xinjiang,Guangxi, Ningxia and Tibet autonomous regions, as well as
Qinghai,Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, where large numbers of
ethnic minority people live. In 2004, the state launched another drive to make
villages with more than 50 households where electricity was available to have
access to radio and TV. It is estimated that 90,000 more villages will have
access to radio and TV in the next two years, among which 59,000 are in ethnic
minority areas.
(8) Assisting Ethnic Autonomous Areas to Open Wider to the Outside World
The state grants more decision-making power to production enterprises in
ethnic autonomous areas in managing foreign trade, encourages them to export
local products and implement preferential border trade policies. It encourages
and supports theethnic autonomous areas to give full play to their geographical
and cultural advantages in expanding their opening to and cooperation with
neighboring countries. In 1992, the Chinese government launched its frontier
opening-up strategy, designating 13 open cities and 241 first-grade open ports,
and establishing 14border economic and technological cooperation zones, most of
whichare in ethnic autonomous areas.
(9) Pairing off More Developed Areas and Ethnic Autonomous Areas for Aid
The Chinese government encourages better-off areas and ethnic groups to help
those that are not well-off yet, and attain common prosperity this way. Since
the end of the 1970s, the Chinese government has organized the more developed
areas along the eastern coast to provide corresponding aid to western areas and
help ethnic minority areas develop their economies and public services. In 1996,
corresponding assistance was made more specific:Beijing is to assist Inner
Mongolia; Shandong, Xinjiang; Fujian, Ningxia; and Guangdong, Guangxi. As
regards Tibet, it receives assistance from all the other areas of the country.
From 1994 to 2001, 15 assistance-providing provinces, and ministries and
commissions under the State Council gave assistance gratis for theconstruction
of 716 projects, with the input of funds totaling 3.16 billion yuan (excluding
investment from the central government.Same below). During the Tenth Five-Year
Plan period, Tibet received assistance and grants totaling 1.062 billion yuan
from all over the country for the construction of 71 projects.
(10) Giving Care to Special Needs of Ethnic Minorities in Production and
Living
Respecting the customs of ethnic minorities, and to meet their needs for
special necessities in production and living, the state has adopted a special
policy for their trade and production of necessities. In 1963, the state
introduced preferential policies for ethnic minority enterprises in profit
retention, self-owned funds and price subsidies. In June 1997, the state
promulgated a new preferential policy for ethnic minorities' trade and
production of necessities for them, which provided that, during the period of
the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000), the People's Bank of China would set aside
100 million yuan every year for loans with discounted interest for the
construction of trade networks for ethnic minorities and technological
renovation of enterprises designated to turn out necessities for ethnic
minorities. It also stipulated that state-owned trade businesses and grass-root
supply and marketing cooperatives below the county level (not including
counties) would be exempt from value added tax in ethnic minority areas. By the
end of 2003, there were 1,378designated manufacturers of special necessities for
ethnic minorities in China, which enjoyed preferential policies concerning
working capital loan rates, technological renovation loans with discounted
interest, and reduction of and exemption from taxes. Considering the importance
of special necessities suchas tea in the everyday life of some ethnic
minorities, the state established a brick-tea reserve system during the period
of the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-1995), to guarantee the stable supply of such
tea. In 2002, the Measures for Administration of National Brick-Tea Reserve was
formulated, providing for the management of the reserve of brick-tea raw
materials and products, and credit support to units that store the relevant
materials. It also provided that the central exchequer should pay the interest
on theloans used for the reserve of brick-tea materials.
