The manufacturing sector has remained the most popular field of investment for foreign investors who are enthusiastic over the traditional industrial base in northeast China thanks to the country's strategy to rejuvenate the region.

The latest figures from the three northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning suggest a drastic surge of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the manufacturing industry in the past two years.

Jilin Province alone reported a 130-percent rise in FDI inflow in the first quarter of this year, up 130 percent over the same period of 2004. Of all the 103.19 million US dollars of FDI that poured into the province in those three months, nearly 77.5 percent, or 80 million US dollars, went to the manufacturing sector, according to the provincial statistical bureau.

In neighboring Heilongjiang Province, China's northernmost province, foreign investors launched 35 new projects in the manufacturing sector in the first quarter, with a total contractual value of 240 million US dollars, up 12.6 percent over the same period of this year.

The manufacturing sector is also the largest FDI recipient in Liaoning Province that received 8.66 billion US dollars of FDI in contractual value throughout 2004. Though no breakdown is available, the provincial bureau of foreign trade and economic cooperation said the manufacturing, real estate and construction sectors together received 7.23 billion US dollars of FDI last year, or 83.5 percent of the total.

The northeast rolled out China's first batch of steel, machine tools, locomotives and planes after the founding of New China in 1949. Of all the 150 key heavy industrial projects launched by the central government in the early 1950s -- which covered iron and steel, chemical, heavy machinery, auto making and defense industries, one third were based in the northeast.

However, many of the traditional industrial companies founded in the early 1950s under China's planned economic system became less competitive and some were left in the red as the country moved towards a market economy.

But experts say the region will continue to prosper as it still enjoys massive potentials in the manufacturing sector and boasts rich resources. The Chinese government also considers the revival of the northeast industrial base as the third most important long-term strategy after the opening-up in the southeast coastal regions 20 years ago and the western development policy at the end of the 20th century.

Premier Wen Jiabao said in 2003 China would build the northeast region into a national and even a world-class industrial base of equipment manufacturing and important raw materials.
 
(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2005)