Fostering Peripheral Economic Growth Centers in China’s Borderlands: Environment, Institutions, and Policies

To foster peripheral growth centers in China’s borderlands, it is important to align development capacity with the competency structure. China has implemented strategies for multidimensional international regional cooperation, development of the western region, and the VBEP program. These measures have contributed to the development of peripheral growth centers. However, there is still room for improvement in many policies. Paired assistance based on administrative directives facilitates the development of borderland economies, but it is relatively inefficient and needs to shift to market-oriented cooperation between inland and border areas.