ON RESOURCE EXPLOITATION AND DEVELOPMENT STRAT EGY IN THE NORTHWEST OF SICHUAN
论川西北地区的资源开发与发展战略

The Northwest of Sichuan is located in the inner mainland of China, being a part of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. The elevation in most of the area is over 3000 m to 4000 m and the climate is bitter cold. The region is the domicile of many minority nationalities such as the Tibetans. It possesses two characteristics, namely, the economy is related to the Sichuan Basin in the east and its cultural backgroud is similar to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in the west. There are a lot of resource superiorities and potentialities waiting to be exploited, including livestock, forestry, ores, energy resources, tourist resources, and so on, but the economy is backward at present. For futurel development, we should deal correctly with the relationship between modernization and tradition, and set up the pillar industries, supplementary industries and basic industries which embody the regional features. In the process, it also needs to construct commercialized production bases and arrange well the order of investment and projects. The regional development should give priority to the eastern part and the existing cities and towns before spreading to the whole region. Meantime, we should devote efforts to ecological construction so as to benefit the natural protection in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.