CENTRAL-PROVINCIAL FRICTION OVER EFFORTS TO CURB

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 017937 SIPDIS SIPDIS USDOC FOR 4420 TREASURY FOR OASIA/ISA - DOHNER/CUSHMAN NSC FOR ALTBACH STATE FOR EAP/CM, EB STATE PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD, WINTER, WELLER STATE PASS CEA FOR BLOCK STATE PASS FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD FOR JOHNSON/SCHINDLER; SAN FRANCISCO FRB FOR CURRAN/LUNG; NEW YORK FRB FOR DAGES/CLARK E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2016 TAGS: ECON EIND ENRG ELAB EINV PGOV CH SUBJECT: CENTRAL-PROVINCIAL FRICTION OVER EFFORTS TO CURB INVESTMENT REF: A. (A) BEIJING 12549 ¶B. (B) BEIJING 11705 ¶C. (C) BEIJING 566 Classified By: (C) CLASSIFIED BY ACTING MINISTER COUNSELOR FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS CHRISTOPHER BEEDE, 1.4 (B) AND (D). SUMMARY/COMMENT -------------- ¶1. (C) Beijing has recently become more forceful in its efforts to control investment at the provincial level and went so far as to publicly reprimand officials in Inner Mongolia for pursuing unauthorized power projects. The Central Government separately announced in early August that it would dispatch economic inspection teams to key provinces to compel them to more closely follow Beijing's direction. Local officials in Inner Mongolia as well as Hunan appear dismissive of the Central Government's push, perhaps reflecting how existing career incentives and local conditions motivate the continued pursuit of high rates of investment even when verbally encouraged by the Central Government to do otherwise. END SUMMARY/COMMENT. GOING AFTER THE LOCALS -------------- ¶2. (C) With second quarter GDP growth at a blistering 11.3 percent and signs of overcapacity in key industries such as steel and cement (Ref A),Chia has no shortage of reasons for its contiued concern about economic overheating, driven primarily by very rapid growth in fixed asset investment at a rate of approximately 30 percent annually. (Note: In 2005, fixed asset investment amounted to approximately 48.6 percent of China's total GDP. End Note.) Over the past month, the Central Government, in its push to cool things down, at least in certain sectors, has adopted a more forceful posture towards provincial and regional governments. Premier Wen Jiabao made several statements in July about controlling land use, reining in investment, and curbing polluting industries. In early August, the State Council indicated that it would send special economic inspection teams throughout the country to compel local government officials to implement policies in line with preventing economic overheating and rebalancing growth. MAKING AN EXAMPLE OF INNER MONGOLIA -------------- ¶3. (C) The State Council has publicly reprimanded leaders from Inner Mongolia, blaming the region's chairman, Yang Jing, and vice-chairmen Yue Fuhong and Zhao Shuanglian, for an unauthorized investment project which resulted in the deaths of six workers, according to an August 17 report in state-controlled media. The USD 350 million project involved the Xinfeng Power Plant constructing two 300,000 kilowatt coal-burning generators. A decision last year to speed up construction led to the workers, deaths when one of the main structures collapsed. The State Council,s recent response included reprimanding the leaders as well as a reported halting of other "unauthorized" power plants in Inner Mongolia. ¶4. (C) The Central Government's actions make an example of Inner Mongolia, which has the highest growth rate over the past three years among Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, said Wang Tongsan, Director of the Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Inner Mongolia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 21.6 percent in 2005 and 19.4 percent in 2004. Wang said that the high growth rate is predominately due to construction of these unauthorized coal plants. In his view, the Central Government hopes to indicate to other provinces that they too will be punished if they pursue investment projects without Beijing's approval. A DEFIANT ATTITUDE... -------------- ¶5. (C) Despite the recent reprimand by the State Council, BEIJING 00017937 002 OF 002 Inner Mongolia officials in the capital city of Huhehote told us on August 21 that Beijing's more forceful approach likely would have little impact on their region's investment strategy. Ma Yongzhen, Vice Chairman of the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences (IMASS),said that the Central Government's comments would not affect the level of investment in Inner Mongolia. Wu Ente, also of IMASS, agreed, stating that provincial-level government leaders remain unconcerned about what the Central Government thinks. It is unclear to us whether this suggests Inner Mongolia will find a way to continue the affected projects or whether the officials were merely expressing a general intention to maintain an overall high rate of investment. ¶6. (C) Comments from Inner Mongolia officials over the past year are perhaps more broadly indicative of regional officials' posture towards reprimands from Beijing. During a December 2005 visit to Huhehote, these officials emphasized to us the value of boosting investment in industrial development and the energy sector, going so far as to say they hope Inner Mongolia will become northern China's energy hub (Ref C). At the March 2006 session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, Wang Zhimin, the Huhehote correspondent for Ta Kung Pao (pro-PRC mainland/Hong Kong daily newspaper) commented that Inner Mongolia's leaders believe the region's rapid economic development is a national success story. ... AND SKEPTICISM FROM ANOTHER PROVINCE -------------- ¶7. (C) On August 22, Hunan Provincial Officials based at Hunan's Foreign Affairs Office in Beijing told us that from the provincial perspective, the only sector where the Central Government's overheating concerns are valid is real estate. Hunan, like Inner Mongolia, would plan to continue to pursue its own investment strategy with little regard for Central Government policies, according to these officials. CONTINUATION OF A TREND -------------- ¶8. (C) The State Council's concern about overinvestment in the provinces is not new. Li Jianwei, a macroeconomic researcher at the State Council's Development Research Center, said in June that local government leaders are primarily to blame for higher than projected GDP growth rates during the first half of 2006 (Ref B). According to Li, China's national promotion system for officials remains an obstacle to balanced economic growth as new local officials, eager to earn promotions, often launch investment projects that are ill-advised or even unauthorized by Beijing. COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (C) The Central Government's new measures to cool growth in the provinces, including its public criticism of officials from Inner Mongolia, seem to reflect desperation on Beijing's part with regard to controlling investment in certain sectors. Local officials continue to promote rapid growth, however, for the sake of social stability, local employment, and personal political gain. If the reaction of officials in Inner Mongolia to Beijing's public reprimand is any indication of the likely response from other provinces (and we see no reason why this would not be the case),then the Central Government is already facing an uphill battle to control high rates of fixed asset investment in the provinces. End Comment. SEDNEY SEDNEY