In recent years, China has been transforming its role in the global economy – from purely the world’s manufacturing base to the one with a promising and growing domestic market. During this development process, issues of the adjustment of its industrial structure and the re-location of its regional development focus from the coastal areas to the middle and the western areas are becoming more and more important. Therefore, studies on China’s internal regions, especially regarding the distribution of industries, are much more needed than ever for the global community to come to grips with the future development of China – a huge country with many of its provinces outnumber most countries in the world in terms of population or economic scale. Hence, this research report aims to systematically investigate this issue and ultimately provide a blueprint for China’s regional industrial development and its future planning, with information collected from relevant statistics, policy documents and expert interviews. For the sake of linking the research output with current and future cross-strait economic development, a chapter is dedicated to the discussion of the development of Taiwanese firms in the mainland China, which provides the basis for proposing policy recommendations. V Chapter 1 outlines the research framework and chapter 2 lays the foundation for carrying out subsequent research tasks by comparing the industrial classification systems across the strait, defining frequently used industrial terminologies in China, and introducing the governmental agencies and their functions surrounding industrial development. Chapter 3 and chapter 4 are the main chapters of this research with the former focusing on the current status of China’s regional industrial development and the latter focusing on the intentions or future planning for different regions. While current status relies mostly on various official statistical yearbooks, future projections are extracted from central, regional and provincial economic planning documents. In order to better deploy the research resources, four regions are selected for more detailed investigation out of their existing or potential importance for Taiwan’s future strategy: they are the Yangtze-river delta, the Pearl-river delta, the Cheng-yu area and the Middle area. In the conclusion, this research proposes tentative recommendations corresponding to different operation modes for Taiwanese firms that wish to survive or thrive in future China. A preliminary evaluation of regional potentials in terms of developing the “New Strategic Industry” is also provided for reference. At last, the research outcome leads to the policy recommendation that the Taiwan government ought to incorporate much more regional considerations in its future economic strategies towards the mainland China, especially in the future cross-strait negotiations on further economic integration.
