Although the natural conditions and development process of the western United States and China are quite different, the two countries are in complete agreement on the point that there will be no modernization without the development of the western region. How to use the experience of American westward movement for reference to choose the road of China's western development? How to formulate scientific strategic measures to promote the development of western China? The author believes that we should mainly start from the following aspects:
1。 We should improve and perfect the market operation mechanism in the western region. The western development of the United States was originally a pioneering movement for immigrants to get rich freely, and there was no altruism at all, but the result was an unprecedented feat in the history of human civilization. At present, we are carrying out large-scale development in poverty-stricken areas in the west. In order to make foreign investors get reasonable returns and truly achieve "the government sets up the stage and the market players sing opera", we must improve and perfect the market operation mechanism in the western region. First of all, it is necessary to speed up the cultivation of the western commodity and factor market system, the improvement of market rules and the establishment of market order, and form a unified, standardized and orderly market in the western region. Provinces and cities should eliminate mutual market barriers, introduce competition mechanism, increase market transparency, give full play to the role of market mechanism in optimizing resource allocation, and promote cross-regional flow of factors and cross-regional asset reorganization; At the same time, the western region should further strengthen exchanges, cooperation and opening up between the east and the west, and establish multi-level and multi-form economic and technological cooperation to adapt to the new situation of domestic and foreign markets and the needs of western economic development. Secondly, we should cultivate diversified subjects of western development. The main body of western development should be private enterprises, not the government, which requires that the formation and improvement of modern enterprise system should be the center of western development and cultivate competitive and dynamic modern enterprises; But also to actively encourage private capital and foreign investment, especially the development of private economy. It is necessary to implement market players with multiple ownership and economic components to promote the large-scale development of the western region. Third, actively develop foreign economic and trade cooperation. Due to historical and natural reasons, the economic foundation of the central and western regions is weak, and the overall level of economic development lags behind that of the eastern coastal regions, and there is a big gap between the scale and overall level of foreign trade development and that of the eastern regions. However, the western region also has its own comparative advantages. In the development of the western region, we should proceed from reality, develop advantageous industries in a targeted manner, cultivate and form new foreign trade growth points, and expand exports, especially give full play to the characteristics of long border and many neighboring countries (the western region borders 14 countries, and the border line 10 thousand kilometers), vigorously develop border trade, and carry out economic and technological cooperation with neighboring countries. Fourth, further opening to the outside world, actively broaden financing channels and make full use of foreign capital. In addition to relying on the government to gradually increase investment in the western region, we must also make full use of the two markets and resources by formulating policies and measures suitable for local economic and social development to attract all kinds of investors, including foreign businessmen, to invest in the western region.
2. Create a favorable macroeconomic policy environment in the west. From the role of the federal government in the development of the western United States, it can be seen that the role of moderate government intervention in the economy is irreplaceable. Therefore, in the western development, the government should play an active role in the following aspects. First of all, we should establish a relatively complete legal system. The strategy of western development is a long-term systematic project. In order to successfully implement this grand systematic project and achieve the expected results, it is necessary to establish a legal system that reflects the characteristics of western development, such as land resources law, mineral resources law, environmental protection law, industrial investment law, foreign capital utilization law and regional development law, to provide legal basis and legal guarantee for the implementation of western development, to clarify the ways and methods for the government to coordinate regional interests, and to make the government's regional economic coordination authoritative and stable. Second, we must carry out institutional innovation. The central government should change the functions and methods of economic regulation, establish and improve the macro-control system, and formulate various policies for attracting investment, such as foreign investment policy, talent attraction policy, technological transformation policy, and asset reorganization policy. Support the adjustment of industrial structure and the choice of leading industries in the western region, and provide policies and regulations for the implementation of the strategy of developing the western region. In particular, it is necessary to increase the central government's investment in the western region, and mobilize the enthusiasm of investors from all walks of life through financial interest subsidies, investment subsidies, the establishment of policy-oriented western development financial institutions, the establishment of industrial investment funds, and the issuance of medium-and long-term construction bonds.
3. We should strengthen the competitive advantage of the western economy and optimize the economic structure of the western region. The six provinces, one city and three districts in the west account for 2/3 of the whole country, and the population accounts for14 of the whole country. Iron and steel, coal and nonferrous metals are extremely rich in reserves. Although the development of the western region cannot be separated from the macro support of the state, it ultimately depends on the development of the western region itself. Therefore, western development should give priority to improving economic competitiveness. First of all, we should realize the transformation from resource-oriented strategy to market-oriented strategy. For a long time, the main industries in some western regions have developed around their rich natural resources, forming a large number of typical single economic structures, mainly extractive industries and raw material industries. Although this typical resource-oriented development strategy is reasonable in the early stage of industrialization, with the continuous advancement of industrialization, its limitations such as low processing proliferation and great influence by market price fluctuations appear. Once regional resources are exhausted, it will lead to the decline of resource-based industries. Therefore, under the condition of market economy, to develop the western region, we should not only pay attention to strengthening the resource advantages of the western region, but also change the situation of high dependence on resources in the past, change from resource-oriented strategy to market-oriented strategy, and strengthen the optimal combination of production factors such as resources, capital, talents, technology, management and market and the competitive advantage of enterprises. Secondly, it is necessary to form a good industrial structure. A good industrial structure is the key to the economic competitiveness of a country or region. In the process of western development, advanced technology and equipment should be adopted to improve the processing degree and added value of natural resources and develop into the downstream industries of the diffusion chain; At the same time, vigorously develop high-tech industries and form new industrial belts and industrial clusters. Finally, it is necessary to form a reasonable layout of productive forces. The western part of China is vast, so it is impossible to promote the economy as a whole. It is necessary to relatively highlight key points and form a reasonable layout of productive forces. In particular, it is necessary to form a number of economic growth centers that can drive the whole economy, adopt the development model of point axis and point surface, and focus on developing areas along the river, along the line and along the border, thus driving the economic development of the vast western region.
4. Vigorously develop science, technology, culture and education in the west and develop human resources in the west. The development of science and technology and the cultivation of talents are the internal driving forces of the economic development in the western region. The backwardness of science and technology is an important reason for the slow economic development in western China, and it is also a key link that restricts the development of the western region. China should learn from the experience of western development in the United States, unswervingly follow the road of scientific and technological development, vigorously develop educational and cultural undertakings, and improve the quality of labor resources in the western region. First of all, focusing on the existing scientific research institutions in the western region, according to the actual needs of western development, we will systematically attract some scientific research institutes and universities in the eastern and central regions to settle in the western region, increase the input of the central and local governments in education, vigorously develop basic education and applied technology research in the western region, and attach importance to technological development and innovative research. National institutions of higher learning should expand the enrollment scale in the western region, charge tuition fees by half, and support the training of talents in the western region. Secondly, formulate scientific research plans for the development of the western region, increase scientific research projects, establish key scientific research topics, organize scientific research teams, and strive for early scientific research results; At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the popularization of science and technology, establish and cultivate the western technology trading market, especially to learn from the experience of American high-tech parks, make use of the scientific research and discipline advantages of scientific research institutes and universities in the west, and use venture capital mechanism to establish scientific research and development parks to improve the conversion rate, popularization rate and contribution rate of scientific and technological achievements, so as to make scientific research academic institutions become the main force in developing high-tech industries. Third, the central and local governments should be jointly responsible for stabilizing the talents in the western region by increasing income, providing more favorable housing conditions and improving the working and living environment, and preventing the emergence of "peacocks flying southeast"; At the same time, it is necessary to attract talents from the east and even overseas to participate in the western development. Fourth, establish a mechanism for selecting (appointing), encouraging and supervising enterprise managers, and cultivate modern entrepreneurs, so as to promote economic development and entrepreneur growth in the western region.
5. Vigorously develop infrastructure construction focusing on transportation. It is an important experience of the westward movement in the United States to pay attention to the infrastructure construction with transportation as the focus for a long time. Due to the lack of long-term investment and the complex geographical environment in the western region of China, the backwardness of transportation industry has increasingly become an important bottleneck restricting the economic development in the western region, and has become the primary factor of poor investment environment and poor industrial development conditions in the western region. Therefore, the development of the western region must vigorously develop the construction of infrastructure such as transportation. First, do a good job in the construction planning of infrastructure such as transportation. According to the characteristics of great differences in economic and geographical conditions in the western region, adhere to the development policy of railway, highway, aviation, water transport and pipeline transportation, and connect with each other to form a reasonable transportation network; At the same time, priority should be given to the development of highway and pipeline transportation, and railway transportation and air transportation should be developed in a timely manner according to the differences in construction period, construction difficulty, investment scale, geographical conditions, economic benefits and transportation demand. Second, increase the government's investment in infrastructure construction in the western region. The government should bear the responsibility of supplying public goods and support the development of the western region by arranging major infrastructure projects. However, the improvement and construction of infrastructure in the west is a grand comprehensive project, and it is not enough to rely solely on government investment. Therefore, the government should also give preferential policies, that is, introduce eastern capital and foreign capital into the west through policy innovation, make full use of external capital, technology and talents, develop the transportation industry in the west, and create a good environment for the development of the west.
6. Strengthen environmental protection in the west and take the road of sustainable development. In the westward movement, the United States took a road of development first and governance later. Because the early westward movement in the United States was spontaneous, excessive deforestation and grassland reclamation caused serious damage to vegetation and natural environment in the basin, serious soil erosion and frequent natural disasters, which caused great losses to the agricultural economy in the western region. In the early stage of industrialization, in order to speed up the process of industrialization, they launched industrial projects with serious pollution and no pollution control measures, which further worsened the ecological environment in the west, thus forcing the United States to spend decades and invest huge sums of money in comprehensive management of the ecological environment, and its lessons are profound. The western part of China, which occupies more than half of the land area, is the birthplace of two major rivers and their upper reaches. It is an important ecological barrier of the country, and its ecological environment is an important and urgent task related to the survival and development of the Chinese nation. Therefore, we should learn from the lessons of the United States in the development of the western region, do a good job in ecological environment protection, and take the road of sustainable development. First of all, we should establish the concept of ecological environment protection and sustainable development. Environmental protection is not only related to the development of national economy, but also to the needs of the western development itself. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the publicity, education, learning and popularization of knowledge related to environmental protection and sustainable development. Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of ecological resources in the western region, strengthen the protection of water and soil vegetation, implement natural forest protection projects, conscientiously implement the policy of returning farmland to forests and grasslands, and develop ecological agriculture, ecological forestry and ecological animal husbandry around the management and improvement of the ecological environment. Third, in the industrial development of the western region, we should try our best to build some pollution-free projects, and resolutely not build serious pollution projects. For polluting projects, it is necessary to have pollution control conditions and discharge up to standard, so that the process of developing the western region will become the process of ecological environment management. Fourth, increase investment in ecological projects in the west. The ecological environment belongs to public goods or quasi-public goods, so governments at all levels should increase capital investment, at the same time, cooperate with effective incentive mechanism to mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties, take ecological construction as a part of high value-added and high-level industries, and combine it with agriculture and tourism to achieve higher benefits and effects. In short, in the process of developing the western region, we must attach importance to environmental protection and take the road of sustainable development.