In Weihai, a city of 2.5 million people on the northern coast of the Shandong Peninsula, has an ambitious goal of becoming the spear that prods Shandong's growing marine economy, local officials have indicated.

Over the next five years, the city will focus on aquatic products processing, shipbuilding, port logistics, marine tourism, emerging industries, and modern petrochemicals.

With its more than 1,000 kilometers of coastline, the city has dreams of becoming home of top marine industries and a pilot in cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea.

Weihai has 168 islands, over 300 marine species and a 220-square-kilometer shallow sea area that can accommodate marine farming.

It has 50 leading brands of seafood, which resulted in $594 million worth of exports in the first eight months of this year.

The Weihai government is encouraging its companies to do research on aquatic breeding and fish farming. It already has 20 high-tech enterprises in the fishing business.

It also has 10 shipbuilding companies, such as the Huanghai Shipbuilding Co Ltd, and a shipbuilding capacity of up to four million dead weight tons (DWT).

In September, Weihai was listed among a group of 12 cities that will get preferential government treatment in its ship exports.

During the first eight months, the city built 870,000 DWT of ships, a year-on-year increase of 55 percent. These brought it 7.7 billion yuan ($1.21 billion) in revenue, $1 billion of which was generated by exports.

In the area of emerging industries, Weihai has its eye on clean energy, new materials, information, and pharmaceuticals, and, currently has 39 emerging-industry projects under construction, with an investment of 37.3 billion yuan.

The companies involved include Weigao Holdings, in pharmaceuticals, Weihai Huadong Automation, and Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology.

To attract more such projects, the Weihai government has held trade talks in Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea and has 23 foreign-funded projects, each with an investment of more than $10 million. It also has 93 Chinese-backed projects, with 100 million yuan in investment each.

The ASE Group, a major provider of independent semiconductor manufacturing services, for assembly and testing, is putting 8 billion yuan into a package and testing project in Weihai.

In the tourism sector, Weihai has some top tourism products that include its hot springs and various forms of beach entertainment.

And, Hong Kong's China Resources Co Ltd, wanting to capitalize on the city's resources, is spending $1.5 billion on a world-class tourist site.