OECD Development Centre
CD/JF (83)4 (Corrig.)
cc. M. Blietonkron, Savize ODA
Mu.colum Stic Dept. Fro
- 33 -
Linte Deslogene
25.11.83
Centre
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(these pages replace pp. 33 to 38 of the original text dated 10.11.83).
Theme 4 North-South and South-South Economic Relations
Project 4.2. The emergence of the People's Republic of China in the economy of the Pacific region and beyond: a study of the special economic zones of Guangdong and Fujian provinces.
Objectives
1. The research project on the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is designed to follow up work in the Development Centre on the Pacific economies in general. Concentrating more specifically upon the developing countries of the region, the present project aims at analysing internal economic reforms designed to open the national economy outward. It will project the impact of the new economic reforms in the PRC upon the other developing countries of the region, and indeed, upon the OECD economies located in the area as well.
2.
The project intends to make full use of existing materials in Chinese as well as other languages. It will also build upon material that is currently available from a variety of business, academic and government sources in OECD countries. Statistical series for trade and investment will be checked, and when necessary and practicable, revised by the Development Centre. The aim of
this aspect of the project is to develop more accurate descriptive material that can be used in the analysis.
Background
3. The PRC is engaged in a vast series of economic and political reforms that will have a significant effect on the future of that nation, as well as on the world economy. The experimental use of free trade zones, mixed capital ventures, direct foreign investment and market term as well as concessional loans for accelerating the rhythm of national development is a new and unusual departure from post-1949 economic planning in the PRC. This recent innovation and opening to the outside world is an important index of the internal evolution of
a development strategy which will have considerable impact on both developed and developing nations in the region and beyond. Much of the economic planning in the PRC today appears to be done with an eye to complementing other economies in the region, and export strategies appear to be designed to reflect the interdependence of the regional economies.
4.
The historical background provides an important part of the context of any analysis of recent institutional experiments and evolution of Chinese development policy; yet, this project focusses on a description and an analysis specifically of the SEZs themselves and on their actual and potential significance for economic relations in the Pacific Region and beyond. The special legal and administrative structures of these zones will be studied, and they will be differentiated and compared to the new special administrative zones being set up throughout the country to speed internal development.
The Special Economic Zones
5.
In July 1979, the State Council of the People's Republic of China adopted the principle of "free trade zones" or "special economic zones" to attract foreign know-how and investment. By December of that year, the guidelines had been
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