Transport links deliver Jilin to the world
Northeastern province maps out extensive plans to expand its global reach through region’s northern, eastern and southern passageways
Jilin province is making great efforts to promote a more globalized economy in its push to become one of China’s new bases for opening-up, according to a top local official.
Bayinchaolu, Party secretary of Jilin, made the remarks during the recently concluded National People’s Congress in Beijing.
“As an inland region, Jilin is not yet an outstanding player in the nation’s opening-up. However, there is a great potential for the province to catch up,” said the Party chief.
Talking about Jilin’s plan for opening-up, Bayinchaolu said the province is devoting efforts to build three passageways for opening-up in its northern, eastern and south ern areas.
Jilin’s eastern channel links the city of Hunchun with neighboring Russia and South Korea via a land-andsea transshipment route. Hunchun is only about 15 kilometers from the Sea of Japan via the Tumen River.
According to Bayinchaolu, more than 2.5 million metric tons of cargo was exported through the railway port of Hunchun in 2017, increasing 30 percent from the previous year.
For the southern passageway, the province is strengthening its connections with the ports of Dandong, Dalian and Yingkou, integrating itself with the Bohai Bay-rim economic circle.
The city of Tonghua is one of the transfer hubs in this passageway. In 2017, just a year after operations began, the Tonghua International Land Port reported throughput of 5 million tons.
The Changchun-Manzhouli-Europe freight train route, which links Jilin to Russia and Europe, is the province’s northern passageway. Last year’s cargo transport volume through the line increased an astonishing 37 times over 2016, according to the Party chief.
Jilin’s airports have also opened 26 air routes to link foreign countries and Changchun Longjia International Airport is now a major air transport hub in Northeast China, according to Bayinchaolu.
“Through these air, land and sea routes, Jilin is now closely connected to the world,” he said.
Jilin currently has business links with 185 countries and regions, including 64 involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. The total number of Belt and Road-related countries and regions are 65.
Bayinchaolu said a number of industrial parks and zones have played important roles in Jilin’s opening-up. These include the Changchun New Area, Hunchun International Cooperation Demonstration Zone, Xinglong Bonded Area and Changchun Automobile Industrial Zone.
The Hunchun International Cooperation Demonstration Zone has attracted more than 50 seafood processing enterprises and more than 120 logistics companies. The zone is fully oriented towards overseas business, with raw ingredients imported from abroad and most of the finished products exported around the world.
Using effective globalization strategies, a number of local manufacturers, such as First Auto Works Group and CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, have developed into heavyweight international players, according to Bayinchaolu.
For instance, automaker FAW has built 13 production bases in countries such as South Africa and Kazakhstan. CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles has provided products, services and solutions to overseas subway projects in cities including Melbourne, Boston and Bangkok.
In 2017, Jilin’s exports of automobiles and auto parts increased 22.6 percent from the previous year. Exports of high-tech products grew 12.6 percent.
“The increasing amount of exports of locally made hightech products has greatly contributed to balancing Jilin’s foreign trade, which used to be dominated by imports,” said the Party chief.
Emerging e-commerce business has played an important role in boosting exports.
According to Bayinchaolu, there are more than 500 crossborder e-commerce firms in Jilin, accounting for about a third of the province’s total number of foreign trade businesses.
In 2017, Jilin’s exports via e-commerce increased 35 percent from 2016. And the provincial capital of Changchun has become one of the nation’s cross-border e-commerce hubs following Guangzhou in Guangdong province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.
These factors have led to an increase in inbound investment — from the rest of the country and the world. Jilin has attracted 3.4 trillion yuan ($538 billion) in inbound investment in the past five years, with an average annual growth rate of 17.03 percent, Bayinchaolu said.
The Party chief added that Jilin has been transformed from a hinterland to a frontier of opening-up, as a result of its active involvement in the Belt and Road Initiative and successful cooperation with nearby overseas coastal regions.
“This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up. We should grasp the opportunities of the nation’s new round of opening-up to develop a globalized economy,” Bayinchaolu said.