New development of EU regional policy: Lessons for addressing regional development problems in China

The European Union has a robust regional policy mechanism, composed of a variety of policy tools, among which the most important are the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund. The aim of EU's regional policy is to tackle the sensitive issue of "cohesion" and "solidarity" among its member states and regions. Owing to its eastern enlargement, EU's regional policy is undergoing important modification in recent years. The practices of EU's regional policy in general, and its recent development in particular, offer significant references to China, where regional disparity is looming in the context of fast economic growth in the country as a whole. This article is therefore intended to draw some lessons from EU's regional policy practices to the Chinese situation.