The Chinese capital of Beijing has been partly blamed for poverty in its neighboring countryside, as it hordes human and capital resources, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

 

The CASS report, "Blue Paper on China's Regional Development", carried by Monday's Beijing Youth Daily, said Beijing and Tianjin, the two most important cities in north China, are now surrounded by 32 counties defined as poverty-stricken by Chinese standards.

 

Of the 10.65 million people living in the 32 counties, all belonging to Hebei Province, 2.73 million live on less than US$100 a year, the report said.

 

The wealth gap in the Beijing-Tianjin region is the worst in China's developed areas, the report said.

 

It noted that though cooperation among Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin has been a concept on paper for a long time, no progress has been made in reality.

 

The report pointed out that the other two most dynamic blocs in China, the Yangtze River Delta and Pear River Delta, have a much more balanced development.

 

Shanghai has been a much more efficient engine in boosting development in neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the report said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2006)