SEOUL - China's income gap
has reached a dangerous level, possibly leading to a
social unrest, a private think tank researcher said on
Wednesday.
Chung Sang-eun of Samsung Economic
Research Institute, in a report on the problems of
China's income gap, said per capita gross domestic
product (GDP) in Shanghai, which reached US$4,500 last
year, was 12 times that in the western province of
Guizhou.
Five provinces or provincial-level
cities, including Guangdong, Shandong, Shanghai and
Zhejiang, accounted for 48.6 percent of the added value
in the manufacturing sector in China's 31 provinces,
autonomous districts and city-provinces, he said. This
was a result of adopting modern corporate practices in
medium-sized and large state-run companies, and the
rapid growth of private business entities in the eastern
region, he said.
Inland regions, however, lagged
far behind the eastern region because of delays in the
restructuring of state-run companies and consequent slow
business growth.
The ensuing gap is hard to
bridge in a short period of time because of geographical
and cultural factors, he said. Income gaps have been
widening between rural and urban areas, even though
rural areas account for more than 60 percent of China's
total population. Last year, the income gap was 1-2.9
percent, up from 1-2.2 percent in 1990.
Chung
said a sudden economic slip in China could cause many
potential problems to break out at the same time,
leading to social upheaval.
