PACING DEVELOPMENT IN SANYA, HAINAN PROVINCE

UNCLAS GUANGZHOU 032097 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM USDOC FOR 4410/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN USPACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SENV CH SUBJECT: PACING DEVELOPMENT IN SANYA, HAINAN PROVINCE (U) This document is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In a wide-ranging discussion of Sanya's development policies during an October 9 meeting with the Consul General, representatives of Sanya's municipal Foreign Affairs Office, the Environmental Protection Bureau, and Tourism Bureau discussed the city's balanced approach to development, which limits the inflow of polluting enterprises and seeks to capitalize on the island's natural comparative advantages to attract tourist revenue. END SUMMARY. BALANCING PRIORITIES -------------- ¶2. (U) Li Jian Jun, Deputy Director General of the Sanya Environmental Protection Bureau, told the CG economic development and environmental protection are inseparable. According to Li, the three principles guiding municipal planning and development are: -- a zero tolerance policy for polluting enterprises; -- no destruction of natural resources; and -- no redundant construction or investment. Li said that Sanya's authorities have successfully applied these principles to smooth out the pace of development, thereby avoiding a no-holds-barred approach and protecting the island's largest source of income, its environment. ¶3. (U) Municipal authorities appear to be heeding lessons learned in the late 1990's when over-investment gave rise to real estate bubbles which resulted in stalled-out, and sometimes abandoned, development projects. The massive building shells that still tower over static construction sites in other parts of South China - indicative of continuing redundancy and over-investment - appear to be a rarity in and around Sanya today. Hainan Province has become a leading example of sustainable development in line with natural comparative advantages, and authorities in Sanya proudly tout their city and Hainan Province as the first place in China to limit the inflow of polluting enterprises to preserve the natural environment. COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES: SAFETY AND MINORITY CULTURE -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Zhou Chun Hua, Deputy Director General of the Sanya Tourism Bureau, responding to a question about competition with South East Asian countries for tourist dollars, asserted that Hainan's minority cultures certainly merit preservation due to their own intrinsic value, but pointed out that the minorities also are an important economic asset. Ms. Zhou said that Sanya's and Hainan's safety - relative to South East Asia, where crime, political instability, natural disasters, and terrorist threats are common - gives the city an important comparative advantage. ¶5. (U) She then outlined five specific measures that provincial and municipal authorities designed to achieve this goal: -- recognizing minority holidays and encouraging culturally-specific dress; -- designing a system of college admissions standards favorable to minorities; -- allowing minorities to have more than one child; -- building modern homes for minority members who agree to relocate from areas slated to be developed for tourism; and -- assigning individual work units within government agencies to carry out development initiatives in minority villages. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (U) While the treatment of minorities in Sanya, particularly with regard to government relocation programs, requires further investigation, several locals independently confirmed to Congenoffs that area minorities are generally satisfied with their lot, and are particularly satisfied with the grants and housing the government provides them. Many of them choose to leave their farms and move into urban centers to start businesses or work in the tourism industry. At the very least, city and provincial authorities appear to be paying more than just lip service to protecting the well-being of their minority citizens. GOLDBERG