Former powerhouse shines once more
Region makes headway in innovation to revitalize economy
Before the reform and openingup era, the northeast region captured national attention as it served as a major engine for economic growth and contributed to the buildup of a complete national industrial system.
However, as reform and openingup began in the late 1970s, Northeast China — consisting of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, and the eastern part of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region — gradually lost its luster and lagged behind many other areas. In particular, it could not keep up with the eastern coastal regions in terms of economic expansion.
In recent years, the former industrial powerhouse has once again picked up the pace of growth, beginning with a 2003 strategy outlining the revival of the region’s old industrial bases.
The central government also issued the 13th FiveYear Plan (201620) of Northeast China Revitalization in 2016, vowing to revive the economy and cultivate new economic engines in the region.
According to Heilongjiang province’s 2020 Government Work Report, the provincial government will continue to focus on largescale project construction, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.
Heilongjiang has also been actively promoting highquality development and exploring global markets by seizing opportunities in the Belt and Road Initiative.
During a visit to Heilongjiang’s old industrial base of Qiqihar in September 2018, President Xi Jinping said equipment manufacturing is a pillar of the nation, as well as a significant component of the real economy.
He also encouraged manufacturing companies to make greater efforts to step up innovation, develop new technologies and products, and further explore global markets.
With overseas marketing strategies, Harbin Electric — China’s largest producer and exporter of power generation equipment — has constructed power plants in more than 20 countries including Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey and countries in the Middle East and South America.
Harbin Electric’s first 600megawatt generator unit of the Hassyan clean coal project in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was completed on May 18, marking a major step in the construction of the first clean coalfired power plant in the Middle East.
The project started in September 2016 and is expected to have all four 600megawatt generator units completed by 2023.
The company said the plant will produce 20 percent of Dubai’s electricity and significantly reduce the electricity cost for the locals when the project is completed.
It also said it had an excellent financial performance last year, recording a 100 percent increase in profit.
“For the upcoming 14th FiveYear Plan (202125), our goal is to build a firstclass enterprise with global competitiveness,” said Si Zefu, chairman of the company and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. “We will also continue to focus on highquality development.”
Jilin and Liaoning also play an important role in the northeast’s revitalization strategy. Apart from economic growth, the provinces have made much headway in innovative technology, global collaboration, rural revitalization, ecological protection and improving livelihoods in the past year.
On March 27, construction of the new energy intelligent network vehicle innovation test center for automaker FAW Group started in Changchun, the capital of Jilin.
With an investment of 2.69 billion yuan ($378.8 million), the project is located in Changchun International Automobile City, which covers 471 square kilometers.
The automobile city is Changchun’s blueprint to seek highquality and innovative growth, focusing on auto parts manufacturing, services, and research and development, authorities said during a news conference on March 19. “The automobile city is expected to achieve total output value of more than 800 billion yuan by the end of 2025,” Wang Lu, deputy mayor of Changchun, told at the news conference.
Wang outlined plans to build four highquality development sectors, including various clusters of advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries and modern service industries.
“The plan for the four sectors aims to promote industrial diversification and upgrading,” Wang said. “After completion, the proportion of strategic emerging industries and the modern service industry in Changchun will be greatly increased.”
In Liaoning, the city operation management center of Dalian Jinpu New Area, which is under construction, is expected to have a trial run next month. “It will be the first digital ‘city brain’ in Northeast China,” said Li Pengyu, director of the administrative committee in the Dalian Jinpu New Area, China’s 10th Statelevel new area. Statelevel new areas are functional zones approved by the State Council to undertake major national development and strategic tasks of reform and openingup. These include Pudong New Area in Shanghai and Binhai New Area in Tianjin.
The “city brain”, which integrates urban big data operation, urban planning, integrated management, emergency coordination and command, will help enhance the area’s soft power.
The coastal city of Dalian is speeding up the building of the digital city, making efforts to build the digital economy into a new engine for highquality economic and social development. On March 5, the city’s “Digital Dalian” construction leading group held a meeting and proposed improving the level of digital governance, and making it an important support to promote modernization of the urban governance system.
Zhang Zhanbin, a professor from the Chinese Academy of Governance, said that epidemic prevention and control is a test of the governance system and capacity, and especially a test of digital government construction. He made the remarks during an online symposium about the rejuvenation of Northeast China in the global fight against the COVID19 pandemic on April 10.
Zhang suggested the provincial governments of Northeast China should vigorously promote the development of digital governance to improve efficiency, and continue to optimize the business environment with extraordinary measures, so as to lay a good foundation for the better distribution of major productive forces and the landing of major industrial projects.
In Liaoning’s capital, Shenyang, a new plant for BMW Brilliance Automotive started construction on April 1 in Tiexi district.
As a major foreign investment project, the new plant is BMW Brilliance’s largest construction project and is expected to bring in thousands of jobs in the next three to five years. Business leaders and experts agree that the smooth progress of the project depends on the continuous improvement of the local business environment.
Johann Wieland, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive, said that the construction of the new plant started on schedule under such a challenging situation, and this fully demonstrated BMW Brilliance’s firm confidence in the Chinese market and its investment projects in Shenyang.
Liaoning has made striking changes in terms of improving its business environment and has created a good momentum of rising investment.
A slew of project procurements last year proved it is going in the right direction: In January, Liaoning Port Group was inaugurated. In March, oil giant Saudi Aramco entered into a joint venture with a Chinese company in Panjin to build a worldclass petrochemical base with an investment of more than $10 billion. In May, Wanda Group announced an 80 billion yuan investment in Shenyang. In June, Evergrande Group signed an agreement with Shenyang to invest about 120 billion yuan in new energy vehicles.
Inner Mongolia
Heilongjiang
Liaoning
Jilin
October 2003 The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council release policies on revitalizing old industrial bases in Northeast China, formally launching the strategy.
January 2012 The State Council’s leading group for revitalizing the country’s old industrial bases, including those in Northeast China, discusses and approves the 12th Five-Year Plan (201216) of Northeast China Revitalization.
July 2015 President Xi Jinping stresses the importance of revitalizing old industrial bases in the northeast during his visit to Changchun, capital of Jilin province. He says the initiative has reached a crucial stage, and both the central government and local governments in the northeast region should make more effort to accelerate development of old industrial bases.
March 7, 2016 President Xi calls for deeper reform to revitalize China’s northeastern industrial base during a panel discussion with lawmakers from Heilongjiang province at the annual session of the country’s top legislature.
May 2016 President Xi emphasizes the central leadership’s decision to revive China’s northeastern industrial belt during a three-day inspection trip to Heilongjiang province.
December 2016 The central government issues the 13th Five-Year Plan of Northeast China Revitalization.
September 2018 President Xi makes a four-day inspection trip to the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning. He calls for greater efforts to revitalize the northeast rust belt to make the region a strong pillar for the country’s major strategies.
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