China unveils plans to encourage industrial relocations

China's government has unveiled plans to encourage low-end industries to relocate from the country's coastal areas to inland provinces, as part of its efforts to accelerate industrial restructuring and the transformation of the nation's economic growth model.

Transferring low-end industries from coastal areas to central and western regions would not only accelerate the pace of industrialization and urbanization in those underdeveloped regions, but also help coastal areas increase its value in China's economic life, said a statement from the State Council, or Cabinet, on its website, www.gov.cn, Monday.

China's central and western regions have rich natural resources, supplies of less expensive labor and vast markets. Industrial relocations would bring these comparative advantages into full play.

Local governments in the central and western regions should reduce administrative intervention when deciding which projects could be relocated there and, at the same time, avoid duplicating construction, the statement said.

Local governments were also asked to improve the investment environment and infrastructures, enhance self-innovation capacities and make more efforts to protect the environment, the statement said.

The country has seen a rise in industrial relocations in recent years due to rising labor costs and mounting environmental pressures in coastal regions.