Xi Jinping urges China’s northeastern breadbasket to step up efforts to overhaul agriculture and industry

The Chinese leader emphasised the region’s traditional role as the national breadbasket as part of his drive towards food security

He also called for further efforts to modernise its rust belt industries as part of a national push towards self-reliance

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Xi Jinping pictured on a visit to a forest farm in China’s far north during his recent visit to Heilongjiang province. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:31pm, 10 Sep 2023Updated: 8:01pm, 10 Sep 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for greater efforts to revitalise the country’s former industrial heartland and bread basket in the northeast as part of his drive to make the country more self-reliant in the face of mounting challenges.

During a tour of the region last week, he urged the country’s northeastern provinces to “firmly grasp domestic innovation” while stressing that their primary role was to ensure the grain supplies.

The northeast of China was one of the main engines of national growth in the planned economy era and home to much of the country’s heavy industry, but decline in recent decades has turned it into a rust belt.

However, Xi told a meeting of top-level national and provincial officials in Harbin city on Thursday that the country’s current push for modernisation and self-reliance presented “new and great opportunities”, according to Xinhua news agency.

He highlighted the region’s “rich resources, solid industrial foundations, favourable geographical location and significant development potential”, and urged cadres to boost industrial innovation and modernise agriculture.

“The real economy is the foundation, technological innovation is the key, and industrial upgrading is the direction,” he said.