Daniel Todd

New port developments and balanced regional growth: a Taiwan example

Abstract Ports are very visible manifestations of economic activity. Not only are they vital systems of infrastructure, indispensable to the smooth operations of international trade and, hence, the nations well-being, but they can also serve as industrial complexes in their own right. They are, in effect, symbols of integrated growth centres enjoying both service and manufacturing sectors. Mindful of these critical attributes, planners have attempted to render them into positive elements of economic development, not excepting regional economic development. This study examines one such rendition, the port of Taichung, Taiwan, founded as a deliberate act of government to fulfil two objectives; namely, to facilitate the islands export-promotion strategy by avoiding trade disruption stemming from anticipated port bottlenecks and, secondly, to spearhead formal commitments to balanced regional growth. The approach adopted in this paper is essentially one of qualitative evaluation; that is to say, it examines the degree to which Taichung Harbour has conformed to the demanding expectations set for it. Serious structural limitations are elicited, limitations which have prevented the port from realizing its full potential. By the same token, the ports role in advancing balanced regional growth has also been disappointing. As the study shows, the latter result is almost inevitable given the exigencies exposed in the former. This paper concludes by stressing the need for clear formulation of growth-centre functions in conjunction with urging a determination on the part of planners to evade the trap of goal conflicts.

China's energy needs, coal transfers and the ports sector

Abstract Much rests on ports in China, for to them is attached the burden of proving the soundness of relying on interior coalfields for energy supply. Shortcomings on their part are likely to plunge China into an energy crisis, to say nothing of setting back efforts aimed at overcoming regional disparities. Sweeping statements of this kind invite justification, and that is the object of the paper. Beginning with an overview of the countrys sharp regional divisions, the paper goes on to show how the mismatch in energy supply and demand makes insistent the development of Shanxi province as a coal producer, promising, in the process, the amelioration of regional disparities. Realisation of that promise is dependent on rail-port infrastructure, the configuration of which is explored in detail. The port of Rizhao, a terminus of the rail-port system, is selected for particular attention.

Changing technology, economic growth and port development: the transformation of Tianjin

Abstract Ports, traditionally, did not lend themselves to efficiencies and this state of affairs persisted until well into this century when a series of technological developments in shipping, the whole climaxed with unitization, radically transformed the manner in which port operations were conducted. Tianjin succumbed to this transformation in full, but only after forcibly overcoming severe site limitations. Reminiscent of the ‘Anyport’ model, Tianjins port bodily moved downstream. Nailing its colours to the mast of containerization, it continues to prosper today—like yesterday—as a gateway port. However, as stressed in this paper, its future turns on the twin questions of draught restrictions and hinterland accessibility: the two everlasting regulators of port viability.

Ports and coal transfer: Hug of China's energy supply policy

Abstract Coal is the prime energy source in China and, accordingly, its movement greatly influences infrastructure development there. Fundamental to this development is the coordination of interlocking transport modes. Because energy producing and consuming regions are geographically distinct, coal movement rests on the adequate provision of railways and coastal shipping. Hitherto that provision has been lacking, and the country has paid a high price in consequence. Recently, large-scale infrastructure programmes have been initiated to remedy this situation. Ports and their attendant railway connections in northern China are central to these efforts, as the paper explains.

Taiwan: Some spatial implications rapid economic growth

Abstract Enthusiasm for economic development in newly-industrializing countries is tempered by the thought of enhanced regional disparities which seem to inevitably accompany such processes. A breakthrough from being consigned such an outcome is possible if the country can successfully switch from import-substitution industrialization to that centered on export promotion. Conceptually, such an amended course would allow for the diversification of regional economies and the development of regional cities associated with the export trade. Under this scenario, the necessity to bolster a core industrial region — almost always focused on the capital city — is made redundant and national strategies can officially espouse regional development targets with some chance of success. Taiwan is both a stellar performer among the newly-industrializing countries and a subscriber to the export-promotion school. It affords, then, an obvious case study for assessing the degree of core-periphery disparity in economic activities. Additionally, its government is much given to declaring the benefits of industrialization for the populace, and has gone a considerable way to provide manufacturing decentralization by means of a string of development districts peppering the island and a number of ‘mega-proj ects’ of the industrial complex kind. An analysis of the distribution of employment engendered between 1975 and 1985 is forthcoming with both optimistic and cautionary results. In the first case, the degree of spatial concentration in growth activities — and especially manufacturing — has ameliorated but, secondly, the proviso remains that the momentum of growth enjoyed by the core is sufficient to guarantee that favored region a disproportionate share of the job prospects thrown up by the ‘economic miracle’.

Observations on the relevance of the industrial-Urban hypothesis for rural development

Abstract Rural development tends to be viewed as a facet of urban development in the sense that rural areas are expected to be recipients of positive urban spill-overs. To that end, two concepts have been formulated: growth centre theory and the Industrial-Urban Hypothesis (IUH). The former has been beset by conceptual problems whereas the simpler IUH has not been tested in a Canadian context. This paper tests the basic IUH proposition that the general level of rural development is an inverse function of urban accessibility. Findings suggest that the IUH is more attuned to the impacts of smaller centres rather than the regions metropolitan centre. However, introduction of an exogenous element based on ethnic variations in rural settlements indicate how socializing factors work to modify the IUH concept.

Regional policy grounded in minerals exploitation: A Chinese example

Abstract Mining in general and coal mining in particular presents the development planner with a number of challenges which stem directly from its well known shortcomings. These revolve round labour usage, instability, the phenomenon known as leakages and various questionable impositions on the environment. Against these and other defects must be set certain advantages, not least the opportunity afforded by mining to create growth poles able to foster regional development. China has attempted to mould its coal mining industry in a fashion that simultaneously permits the fulfilment of national and regional development goals. The national goal is addressed through investment in places promising the most cost-effective production over the long term; the regional onus comes to the fore in attempts to convert such places into growth poles. Shanxi constitutes the regional cynosure of these converging policies, as the article makes clear.

The industrial complex revisited: Petrochemicals in Taiwan

Abstract The industrial complex promises economic advantages to both the firms involved and the communities within which it is located. A further characteristic, one appealing to planners intent on regional balance, is its purported ability to moderate regional disparities by enacting an industrial programme of such a magnitude as to be capable of reversing the tilt in economic development towards the core. While the fortunes of industrial complexes in advanced countries have been decidedly mixed, they remain potent symbols of industrialization in those countries which have recently espoused this road to development. They retain their cogency as a result of their claim to economies of scale and scope, to say nothing of the fusion of agglomeration benefits which seems to find its most practical expression within them. For some industries, petrochemicals not least among them, these advantages are shown in an especially favourable light when wedded to port expansion. The economies attendant on the industrial complex are added to those of efficient terminal operations and the resultant port industrial complex bodes well for a number of industrial and spatial goals. The network of plants investing in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, with a major petrochemical industry, is used in this paper as an example of an industrial complex of sufficient maturity to be investigated. As a precursor to petrochemical complexes throughout developing Asia, the Kaohsiung case serves to expose the pitfalls as well as the strengths of such a complex. On the one hand, it has never failed to bolster the emerging petrochemical industry and, in so doing, has increased substantially the citys workforce and well-being. On the other hand, however, is the finding that Kaohsiungs growth has not materially disturbed the core-periphery disparities prevailing on the island. The industrial complexes in the city are manifestly not the means to cause a structural change of that magnitude. Policies which place a premium on economic efficiency will continue to make use of industrial complexes, but there is little likelihood that these devices, once implemented, will produce anything more than local spread-effects.

CO2 emissions and their bearing on China’s economic development: the long view

Greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in China have aroused much interest, and not least in recent evidence of their reduction. Our intent is to place that reduction in a larger context, that of the process of industrialization. A lengthy time perspective is combined with a cross-sectional approach-China plus five other countries-and addressed through two general models. The findings are salutary. First, they suggest that a diversified economic structure is consistent with diminished intensity in energy use. Secondly, and the obverse of the first, they imply that a diversified energy structure promotes reductions in CO2 emissions. Finally, one is led inevitably to the conclusion that, together, the findings point to a path for countries to transform their economies while at the same time undertaking to drastically moderate their energy use, switching from a pattern of heavy carbon emissions to one in which lighter carbon emissions prevail. The implications of such findings for environmental management are enormous.

Notice of Retraction Study on economic distance in China: A new perspective of regional disparities

Regional disparities in China exist and are still severe. Particularly alarming is the growing economic gap between the coastal provinces and the western ones. This paper uses the economic distance to measure regional disparities in China. The results show that Western China is suffering from the longest economic distance to the density zones. In order to help such lagging area for a better access to the market, the improvement of transportation infrastructure will be an unquestionable option. That will help alleviate regional disparities at the same time.