BEIJING - China's economic development over the last 30 years has been "a tale of two regions" -- prosperous coastal areas where GDP matches some developed countries and inland areas that have lagged behind.

Now China is doubling down to close the gap between rich and poor areas.

In 2011, China laid out a 10-year development plan for the middle and western areas of the country, demarcating 14 impoverished regions and creating development plans for each region.

Three of the 14 regions are in southwest China's Guizhou province, which has a total of 65 counties listed as impoverished.

"When these areas develop, it will help to effectively close the gap with the eastern part of the country," said Li Zhanshu, secretary of the Guizhou provincial committee of the Communist Party of China and a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), which is meeting now in Beijing.

The gap between the coast and many other parts of China is indeed large.

From 1978 to 2011 per capita GDP in coastal Zhejiang province has risen on average 11.6 percent per year to $9,000 in 2011, far above the national average. This figure is about three times the amount for Tibet and Gansu province, in China's west.

Closing this gap has been a major topic of the current annual NPC session and the concurrent meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's leading political advisory body.

"In recent years, there has truly been a difference in the development of the eastern and western parts of the country. We've also seen the country do a lot to coordinate development among different regions," Li said.