A Speacil Report China's Emerging Mining Industry - A Long March Towards Modernization

The Chinese energy and mineral industries are readying themselves for a period of dynamic transition, unprecedented in the country's long and sometimes turbulent history. The transition comes as a result of the government's new program of "Four Modernizations" in its agricultural, defense, industry, and science and technology sectors. The announced program is generally considered by Western observers to be a moderate, pragmatic approach to get China on the road to industrial parity with Western nations by the year 2000. The game plan calls for integration with the West to beef up Chinese know-how and the purchase of foreign technology to supplement areas where China lacks the ability to do so itself. While the role of energy and minerals is not specifically mentioned in the program, it was made clear to ME that China realizes the basis of any sustained modernization program is tied closely to the health of its minerals sector. Various published reports have indicated the existence of an already vibrant energy and minerals sector with world rank production in coal, iron ore, tin, antimony, cement, pyrite, asbestos and tungsten to name just a few. For the most part, except for the export metals, the primary focus of China's production has been on fulfilling domestic needs. Now the new initiatives are aimed not only at self-sufficiency, but also on propelling the country's natural resource clout into international prominence. With a mineral resource base that is considered by many westerners a potential bonanza, China's new long march toward modernization will be an exciting adventure, well worth watching. Big Projects Spark Excitement China's renewed commitment to a more liberal program is as much a desire to "walk on its own two legs" as it is a backlash from the frustrating years that followed the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and early 1970s. Much of the early excitement was initiated by China's Premier and Party Chairman Hua Guo-feng in speaking to the fifth National People's Congress (NPC) in 1978. Here, Chairman Hua presented the Communist Party's 10-year blueprint for economic development. Specifically, the Party's plans called for completion of 120 large-scale industrial projects by 1985. Mentioned were 10 new iron and steel works, 30 power plants, six new railways, 10 oil and gas fields, nine nonferrous metal