Revive real economy in Northeast China

President Xi Jinping has always given importance to the revival of Northeast China. He has delivered a series of speeches on how to revitalize the region, and at this year's annual sessions of China's top legislature and top political advisory body, he emphasized the importance of boosting the real economy in the traditional industrial base.

Recent years have seen the central government paying greater attention to the revival of the old industrial base and implementing a new strategy in 2003 to revitalize Northeast China. The central government issued the 13th Five-Year Plan of Northeast China Revitalization, too, in 2016, and vowed to revive the real economy and cultivate new economic engines in the region.

The authorities must also ensure the manufacturing sector is at the core of the strategy to revitalize the real economy in Northeast China. Although manufacturing in the region has made some progress during the past more than one decade, it still lags behind the manufacturing sectors of the eastern and southeastern coastal areas. And accelerating the economy's upgrading and transformation is key to the further development of Northeast China's manufacturing sector.