China has named 30 new state-level high-tech industrial bases, lifting the total number to 65.

Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan awarded the State-level High-tech Industrial Bases to 30 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an and Tianjin, on Friday in Beijing.

The 30 bases include six all-around ones and 24 that specialise respectively in civil aviation, new energy resources, microelectronics, information and biology.

The high-tech bases have played an important role in transforming the economic growth mode and upgrading the industrial structure.

Last year, the industrial output of the high-tech sector reached 1.91 trillion yuan (269 billion U.S. dollars), 7.8 percent of China's gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, the new high-tech exports hit 347.8 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the nation's total exports.

The industrial output and exports had risen at average annual rates of 21.5 percent and 37.7 percent, respectively, during the past seven years to 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2008)