SENIOR officials have warned regional cadres not to go beyond centrally-fixed targets and local capacities when they map out expansion plans. While touring the provinces over the past week, party General Secretary Mr Jiang Zemin and Vice-Premier Mr Zou Jiahua said an adequate balance must be sought between the requirements of Beijing and those of localities. Chinese sources said that at a central-level work meeting this month, Mr Jiang had scolded regional cadres for embracing ''warlordism'', which, he said, had hurt the nation's balanced and non-inflationary growth. Mr Jiang and leaders including Vice-Premier Mr Zhu Rongji also warned that industrial and commercial development must not be made at the expense of the already neglected agriculture sector. It is believed the spirit of the meeting has been publicised by several top cadres in their regional tours. The New China News Agency, reporting on Mr Zou's week-long tour of the southwestern Guizhou province, yesterday quoted him as asking local cadres ''not to blindly vie with other regions in accelerating economic growth''. ''Only when its infrastructure is well constructed can Guizhou's economy take off,'' Mr Zou said. The former chairman of the State Planning Commission added a balance should be struck ''between development speed and basic conditions of the locality''. ''More funds should go to agriculture,'' he added. ''While not neglecting grain production, the province should develop its rural enterprises and export more rural labourers to other regions in a planned manner.'' The Vice-Premier said economic growth should be achieved through ''down-to-earth efforts'' in agriculture and in infrastructural construction. While touring Hainan province, Mr Jiang endorsed the island's ''vanguard'' status in the introduction of market reforms. He told cadres they must ''earnestly learn, borrow and absorb anything that conforms to the law of market development and that promotes rational disposition of resources and economic development''. However, the party chief, who is regarded as a conservative, also warned local officials ''not to learn foreign things indiscriminately''. While advising them to try out ''bold experiment'', he said economic work must be accomplished in a ''down-to-earth'' fashion. ''Cadres from various places must closely synthesise the spirit of the central authorities and local realities,'' he said. Economic analysts said Beijing would strictly enforce new regulations limiting the opening of development zones. However, they said, various factions within the leadership had yet to arrive at a consensus on the extent to which bank loans and other credit should be cut this year.
