• DOI:10.22459/aurj.01.2009.08
• Corpus ID: 201627763

Opening up the West: An examination of four core questions on China’s “Western Development” campaign

@article{Ringpapontsang2009OpeningUT,
  title={Opening up the West: An examination of four core questions on China’s “Western Development” campaign},
  author={T. L. Ringpapontsang},
  journal={Undergraduate Research Journal},
  year={2009},
  volume={1}
}

• T. L. Ringpapontsang
• Published 1 October 2009
• Political Science
• Undergraduate Research Journal

The widespread unrest across the Tibetan plateau and events in Xinjiang earlier in 2008 turned international focus directly on China’s west region. The overriding policy initiative that is pivotal in understanding the current dynamics of the region is the Chinese government’s Campaign to “Open Up the West”. Grounded on an awareness of the unique complexities of the region, this essay examines the campaign through the guidance of four core questions that are critical to any understanding of the issue: Why did the Chinese government introduce the Campaign to Open Up the West? What kinds of policy measures are being implemented? How likely is policy to succeed in reducing and reversing the rise in regional inequalities? What are the major obstacles to success? The campaign to Open Up the West is a multifaceted drive representing economic, environmental and political agendas. It has manifested primarily as an all-out push for rapid growth through enormous subsidies and subsidised investments via Chinese corporations based mostly outside the region; an open immigration policy that facilitates the movement of Chinese from other areas into the region, drawn by the state induced boom; and an absence of protection of the employment of the local population despite acute educational lags and a severe undersupply of education infrastructure relative to the rest of China. Contrary to conventional expectation, these “development” policies and the associated rapid growth have in fact been reinforcing the underlying political and social tensions through the marginalisation of local populations which ultimately revealed themselves in the form of social unrest and resistance.