Does China Have an Economic Reserve in Its Interior?

The country’s central and western provinces offer some of the advantages that once propelled impressive national growth rates, but only some of them.

Workers making medical masks at a workshop of a company that produces medical protective equipment in Jishou, in central China's Hunan Province, on Jan. 28, 2021. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Although the West and Japan increasingly show a reluctance to expand existing Chinese operations, China’s less developed interior still offers allure to foreign investors that might slow their departure and mitigate its otherwise ill effects on China’s economy.