China gets richer provinces to help revive rust belt economies
Guangdong among affluent areas that will become economic partners to struggling ‘old industrial bases’ in nation’s northeast
China’s manufacturing hubs of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong will work with the rust belt northeast provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang to help rejuvenate their economies, the country’s state planner said on Friday.
In detailed implementation plans published on its website, the National Development and Reform Commission called on eastern China’s Jiangsu in the prosperous Yangtze River Delta to boost cooperation and share resources with struggling Liaoning as part of China’s latest efforts to revive the struggling “old industrial bases” of the northeast.
Meanwhile, Zhejiang will take on Jilin province as an economic partner and Guangdong will provide support to Heilongjiang.
Separate plans were also published to establish partnerships between Beijing and Liaoning’s capital, Shenyang, and between Shanghai and the Liaoning port of Dalian. Tianjin will also team up with Changchun, the capital of Jilin.
Zhejiang and Jilin will work to establish government, business and social cooperation mechanisms over the next two years and will “make significant improvements in the degree of economic integration”.
Liaoning and Jiangsu will also build joint industrial estates and encourage the use of cross-regional public-private partnerships and the establishment of investment funds, the commission said.