Northeast China enters new era

The economy of NE China shows good momentum.

Statistics indicate that in the first half of this year, the GDP of the three provinces -- Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces -- in this area all remained at positive growth rates.

"The economy of Northeast China is now bottoming out and embracing a bright future," said Zhou Jianping, director of the National Development and Reform Commission responsible for the revitalization of NE China, in a forum on that topic.

The new round of revitalization of the area is driven by innovation. Relevant goals under the 13th Five-Year Plan are to build the area into a base for technology innovation and research and development.

Currently, the area is following the national strategy and implementing supply-side reform to upgrade its original industries such as petrochemicals, vehicle manufacturing and agriculture products processing.

Meanwhile, it is also actively developing some emerging industries such as intelligent equipment, new materials, medicine and health and robotics.

Zhou points out that NE China is now enjoying benefits brought by these newer industries which maintained fast growth in the first half of this year.

Another important driver of the revitalization of Northeast China is opening-up. The area is improving its traffic network to better cooperate with countries in Northeast Asia and other areas in China.

Middle and small-sized enterprises and private companies have also developed rapidly in this process and have become new engines for the region's revitalization.