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As China's leadership decides to make more efforts to rejuvenate
the old industrial base in the country's northeast, decision-makers
and advisers have now realized that the key to success is breaking
through the former planned economy framework and system
barriers.
"The only way for the old industrial base in Northeast China to
get out of the woods is to rapidly switch from its dependency on
the planned economy to a market-oriented system," said Wang Yunkun,
a National People's Congress (NPC) deputy from Jilin Province.
Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, the three provinces in the
country's northeast are regarded as the last stronghold of the
former planned economy in China. They now suffer from aging
equipment and technology, weakening competitiveness, high
unemployment rate and slow economic growth.
Statistics show that the Chinese Government established the
industrial base in the three provinces in the 1950s and 1960s by
pooling fixed assets worth 30 billion yuan (US$3.64 billion) with
energy, raw material and equipment manufacturing as the leading
industries. However, in the last 2 decades, industrial output in
the three provinces has plummeted 9.7 percentage points.
Renowned economist Xiao Zhuoji said State domination within the
sector had to end to allow for a mixed economy.
"The private sector should play a bigger role in the
rejuvenation," he said.
About 10 percent of the country's large and medium-sized
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are in Liaoning alone and most of
them are facing challenges from restructuring the SOEs, unloading
their historical burden, and establishing a mechanism for efficient
national asset management.
At the ongoing session of the 10th National Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the
nation's top advisory body, Xiao said it is necessary to create a
fair and orderly market and change the roles of local governments
in order to achieve higher growth rates in the area.
Xiao, who is an economic professor at Peking University, also
placed particular emphasis on the role of professional personnel in
changing the face of the old heavy industrial base.
"The rejuvenation of Northeast China mainly depends on local
human resources," Xiao said.
Thankfully, Liaoning has 77 schools of higher learning, with
550,000 students now on campus and 1.5 million working
professionals. Heilongjiang has 48 universities and colleges, with
335,000 on-campus students, and Jilin has 41 schools of higher
learning, with 220,000 students on the campus and 750,000
professionals.
However, some deputies warned of a "brain drain" from the
region.
Yue Qingyou, an NPC deputy from Jilin, called on the local
government to provide better working conditions and benefits so
professionals are not lost to other regions.
Many college students in the region also hope to see a better
environment so they can put their talents to full use.
Yang Xingshuo, 25, a holder of two bachelor degrees in chemistry
and communication engineering from Dalian University of Technology,
says he is happy to see that a lot of foreign investment is being
poured into his home province and that domestic investment is also
playing a substantial role in the development of China's
northeast.
"It will bring us more opportunities," Yang said.
Wang Guofa, a CPPCC member, yesterday also listed some of the
top tasks on his government's agenda.
The first is to further reform State-owned enterprises and the
second is to seek better economic transition in areas where
resources are being used.
(China Daily March 8, 2004)
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