About 100 ethnic minority members of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body, held a joint panel discussion meeting on March 7 about the 2004 work report of the State Council, China's cabinet.

Participants expressed appreciation of what the government did last year to help promote the development of areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups. They also made suggestions for further work.

Shen Chu, an ethnic Gelo CPPCC member who is vice mayor of Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, southwest China, said, “I quite agree with what Premier Wen said on western development. And I think the enactment of a national law on western development should be accelerated to give more sustainability and authority to the government’s current policies.

“As the increase of funds in the form of transfer payments and national debt allocated by central government to western regions begins to slow down, new funding channels should be established to ensure that there is no less money available for western development.”

He also advised central government to give a green light to western energy development projects as long as they do not violate the “scientific development concept” or loosen controls over the approval of industrial land use.

Ma Sangang, an ethnic Hui CPPCC member who is vice secretary of the Disciplinary Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Committee of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Ma Yuxiang, also an ethnic Hui CPPCC member who is a law professor at Northwest Minorities University in Lanzhou, Gansu Province in northwest China, echoed Shen’s view on the premier’s pledge of support for western development and advised central government to give special consideration to the western regions when implementing macroeconomic policies. They said macro-control measures had had negative effects on development in the west such as widening the wealth gap between it and the east.

Ma Yuxiang urged faster development of education and better environmental protection in areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups.

He also said special attention should be paid to the brain drain to the country’s developed areas and the development of the 22 smaller ethnic groups that each have a population of less than 100,000.

He proposed a number of laws and regulations relating to ethnic minority groups, ranging from implementing regulations on regional autonomy to two laws on promotion of education for ethnic minority groups and promotion of development for widely scattered ethnic minority populations.

Bayar-Mend, an ethnic Mongolian CPPCC member who is head of the Mongolian Studies School at Inner Mongolian University, said, “Deserts now account for about 18 percent of China’s territory and desertification costs over 50 billion yuan (US$6.04 billion) annually. As most of the deserts lie in northwest and north China, the grasslands there, including those in Inner Mongolia, are under serious threat of desertification and are suffering continuous decline of productivity. I suggest that local people and interested enterprises join hands to combat desertification and develop the sand and grass industries, which should be included in the 11th Five-year Plan for the national economic and social development starting next year.”

Cao Yi, an ethnic Tujia CPPCC member who is vice governor of Enshi Tujia, Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province in central China, said, “I’m from Hubei’s only region included in the western development plan. I think central government and developed areas can provide more timely help for impoverished western regions, especially in education, science and technology and culture. Previously the emphasis was put on building infrastructure.