CHINA has subtly moderated its economic policy, hoping to narrow the gap between its golden east coast and the impoverished hinterland in the far west, according to a report yesterday.
The official China News Service reported that the Chinese leadership was ''alarmed'' by the growing discrepancies and had taken steps to tackle the problem.
It said that while coastal provinces had significantly improved their economies in the past decade of reform, inland provinces such as Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Ningxia, Qinghai and Ganzu still lagged behind.
Moreover, the problem was likely to be exacerbated as the Chinese Government recently decided to shift its economic focus to the Yangtze River Delta in east China.
''The growing development gap between the east and west is worrying,'' Shaanxi Governor Mr Bai Qingcai was quoted as saying.
And Qinghai Governor Mr Tian Chengping blamed his province's sluggish growth on China's ''outdated ideology''.
''Last year, our (Qinghai's) economy accelerated and the national growth rate jumped 7.5 per cent,'' said Mr Tian.
