Economic Development of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China as an Inland Territory

Abstract

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, like Siberia, has a special inland position. The remoteness of this region from year-round navigation seaports is more than 2,000 km, which imposes higher transportation costs for the export of goods to the world market. Xinjiang has the lowest population density in the regional structure of China, occupying 1/6 of the country; its contribution to the Chinese economy does not exceed 1.5 %. In 2001, the Chinese government announced a policy of developing the western regions to even out the territorial disparities in the country, with Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region playing a special role. The analysis of macroeconomic indicators shows that there was no significant economic growth over 2000–2017 in relation to the rest of China, but at the same time there was a significant transformation of the economy through the growth of the tertiary sector while the primary sector of the economy decreased in the number of employees and its share in the GRP of Xinjiang. A detailed geographical structure of Xinjiang’s exports for 2017 is given, showing the significant predominance of the neighboring countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, which account for 80 % of the regional exports. The Russian Federation ranks third among China’s largest trading partners. The article proves that Xinjiang has a typical inland region structure focused on the export of goods with low added value, and no significant transformation of the import and export structure has occurred on its territory due to the implementation of a special regional policy for Xinjiang.