In recent months, the coastal region of Guangdong has been heavily hit by financial losses and factory closures that have resulted in social unrest. On Thursday, officials revealed new plans to give the region a much needed boost. William Foreman from the Associated Press writes:
The sweeping new plan, released Thursday in Beijing, covers the next 12 years and targets the booming Pearl River Delta in southern Guangdong province, which shares a border with Hong Kong. The general goal is to transform the region — which has long been a laboratory for China’s capitalist experiments — into a base for advanced manufacturing, innovation and heavy industry, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
For the past 30 years, the Pearl River Delta — known as the world’s factory floor — has been a major base for labor-intensive industries producing shoes, textiles, toys, sporting goods and other low-end goods.
But in recent years, the export-driven factories — many of them owned by Hong Kong and Taiwanese investors — have become less competitive as costs for labor, land, energy and raw materials have risen. China has been encouraging the low-end manufacturers to move to interior provinces, where costs are cheaper.
