Senior Guangdong officials are feeling the heat, according to Li Jing at The South China Morning Post, as they fear the province may lose its spot as China’s top economic powerhouse:
In a panel discussion on Friday afternoon, Hu told the provincial legislative congress that the gross domestic product of Jiangsu province was catching up quickly with Guangdong, according to a China News Service report.
Hu said that whichever province earned the No1 ranking for GDP growth would attract even more investment.
The comment came in stark contrast to Hu’s predecessor, Wang Yang, who told local officials a year ago to focus more on industrial upgrades and social reform, while keeping a cool head about GDP.
Echoing Hu’s remarks, the director of Guangdong’s statistics bureau, Xing Xiaowei warned that Jiangsu, whose GDP expanded by 10.1 per cent in 2012, would overtake Guangdong in 2015 “if we do not accelerate our pace”, the Guangdong party mouthpiece, Nanfang Daily, reported on Saturday.
Guangdong’s GDP grew 10.2 percent in 2012, according to a government work report released last week, tops in the nation.
