Guangxi’s Sino-Vietnamese Border Trade’s Impact On Poverty Alleviation And Its Functions And Mechanisms

At present,the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council take eliminating poverty as a critical task for realizing the objective of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in a timely manner,and have proposed using targeted and differentiated regional policies and poverty alleviation strategies for different areas.This is to adjust measures to local conditions and focus attention on where it is due.The areas along China’s land border encompass all of the following:"old revolutionary base areas,areas inhabited by ethnic minority groups,border areas,mountainous areas and poor areas".Thus it is a key region for implementing China’s poverty alleviation strategy.Impoverished border areas must "rely on their border advantages" in order to adjust measures to local conditions and take targeted measures to eliminate poverty.Border trade is a special form of foreign trade and is different from general trade.It includes border resident’s barter trade,small-scale border trade and foreign economic and technological cooperation in border regions.Border trade is an important component of border economy.In order to win the drawn-out battle against poverty in such regions,it is necessary to combine poverty alleviation and development,and give full play to border trade’s role in poverty reduction.This dissertation takes Sino-Vietnamese border trade in Guangxi as an example,employing theoretical and empirical analysis on the macro level and case analysis on a micro level,on the basis of numerous on-site surveys,interviews and questionnaires.The function and mechanism of border trade in poverty alleviation is explored in-depth,highlighting problems and challenges.On this premise countermeasures and suggestions are put forward,aiming to better unleash the benefits of border trade for battling poverty,thereby eliminating it and gaining prosperity for these regions.Currently,scholars of economics from home and abroad have conducted much research on the relationship between general international trade and poverty,but study on the mechanism of border trade’s impact on poverty alleviation is scarce.Based on the foundational characteristics of border trade,this dissertation draws on "poverty trap" and other relevant theories to formulate three stages of economic development in border regions:(1)border areas that are isolated from the outside are affected by the "edge effect" due to being located far from the economic center.They also endure the "screen effect" brought about by the presence of the border.Thus for a long duration,the level of economic development is very low.(2)border areas open to the outside see improved economic development due to the border’s "mediation effect",but the "marginalized" characteristic of its location reveals that depending solely on the former is insufficient to help them escape the poverty trap.(3)border areas with specific policy support enjoy better economic development.This is because when relying exclusively on general macroeconomic policies for regional development,border trade cannot automatically benefit the impoverished border residents so much as to destroy the poverty trap.In order to give better play to the poverty alleviation function of border trade,a "good" policy system is a must.In a "good" border trade system,border trade can be developed through channels such as human resources,industrial systems and public service,thus embarking on a path of sustainable development.However,in a "bad" border trade system,even when border trade develops,due to the existence of social gap trap,channel economic trap and economies of scale trap,border areas and residents are unable to fully enjoy the dividends of border trade,resulting in their being caught in a poverty trap of low-level.This dissertation incorporates detailed research in the systemic elements of border trade,especially research from the perspective of system innovation and change.It is argued that the shift from informal to formal systems is the primary change in the basic systems of border trade.As the government is the supplier of formal systems,policy considerations and mutual coordination between governments and departments of various levels significantly impact the systemic arrangements of border trade,especially compulsory ones.For the main entities of border trade which includes border residents,the transition of border trade from using informal to formal systems as well as the "formalization" of the resident’s rights to take part in border trade plays a pivotal role in facilitating border trade’s role in poverty alleviation.Of course the informal systems of border trade will not disappear in the process of change and transition.On the contrary it will complement and help adjust the formal systems.Their mutual influence promotes the development of border trade system,helping it enter into a new equilibrium.On this basis,this dissertation puts forward the concept of "pro-poor border trade" system,the core of which is to help border trade systems benefit the impoverished.This dissertation holds that "pro-poor border trade" is more beneficial for realizing the balance of the state’s overall interest and the regional interests of local departments and authorities.Through this way it can greatly reduce the cost of systemic reform and innovation for border trade.The key to "pro-poor border trade"is for impoverished border populations to receive more opportunities and enhance their abilities to take part in border trade.Simultaneously border trade is to be transformed and upgraded,so that the "dividends" of border trade can remain within the economic circulation of border areas.Only by doing this can such regions escape the "poverty trap".On a macro level,this dissertation analyzes and researches the basic situation of systematic change in border trade along the Sino-Vietnamese border in Guangxi,the basic state of Sino-Vietnamese border trade in Guangxi,the poverty in border regions and the economic and social development of these areas.On this foundation the arguments in this dissertation are further confirmed.The border counties,municipalities and regions in Guangxi feature obvious regional "staircase"characteristics as they exist at differing levels,with some still deep in poverty.Other counties,municipalities and regions have achieved noteworthy success in poverty alleviation through the rapid development of border trade.This dissertation conducts empirical analysis on the effects of poverty alleviation of Guangxi’s border trade.Economic development has the most prominent effect on combating poverty,while border trade,identified as the proportion of local residents’ barter trade’s import and export volume among local GDP,has been positively impacted.In addition,through large amounts of fieldwork such as interviews and surveys,this dissertation takes Sino-Vietnamese border city Dongxing of Guangxi as a case study,documenting meso to micro level research on the poverty alleviation effects of border trade.By means of interviews and questionnaires,two border villages of Dongxing city are compared and analyzed.The dissertation focuses on a new type of border trade organization-border residents’ mutual assistance group-which originated at grassroots levels and has been affirmed and promoted by the local government.Through this,the author provides detailed evidence for the logical relationship between border trade and development for combating poverty.This dissertation builds a transaction market model concerning "tax exemption rights",analyzing the relationship between the rate of tax exemption of border residents’barter trade and their poverty situation from a micro perspective.The author believes that as a non-governmental institutional innovation induced by the formal systems of regulatory departments,a "tax exemption rights" market is beneficial from the point of efficiency in economics.But this market may also cause border trade to aggravate social gap and polarization in border areas.This dissertation specifically conducts case analysis on the on-site processing of border trade products.Through comparing the two modes of "channel economy" and "local processing",the impact of local processing of barter trade’s imported products on the channel economy trap is discussed.It is pointed out that the "local processing" of goods in barter trade will fundamentally expand the scale of imports from the barter market,thus increasing the demand from the border market for services of the average border resident,and helping impoverished residents shake off poverty.Lastly,this dissertation analyzes the problems and challenges that border trade of Guangxi faces when combating poverty.On the bases of building the "pro-poor border trade" system,policy suggestions are put forward.The system includes the following:to promote a border trade entity cultivation system,which is inclined towards benefiting impoverished border residents,through providing more opportunities and enhancing their abilities to take part in border trade in the two dimensions of scope and level;to implement a border trade financial system bent towards benefiting impoverished border residents;to improve software and hardware infrastructure of border trade and enhance the systemic environment in a way to support such residents;and to transform and upgrade border trade oriented towards increasing its dividend effect,thus retaining more dividends in border areas to benefit the impoverished people.