Return-- China's three northeastern provinces, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin, all achieved positive economic growth in 2020, a sign of the country's economic resilience against the backdrop of the world's worst pandemic in decades.
-- Five years ago, the region began to show a sharp decline in its economic performance indicators, as the northeastern "rust belt" has long been afflicted by an aging population, dwindling investment and talent outflow.
-- Global industry leaders like LyondellBasell and SK Hynix, covering a range of fields, including chemical production, new-energy vehicles and semiconductors, have piled into the region since 2020.
BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- China's three northeastern provinces all achieved positive economic growth in 2020, a sign of the country's economic resilience against the backdrop of the world's worst pandemic in decades.
Last year, the GDP of Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin, once China's major industrial bases, grew 0.6 percent, 1 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively, while the country gained a 2.3-percent increase as a whole, making itself the only major economy in the world to achieve positive economic growth in 2020.
The region's economic activity has maintained this gratifying momentum since the beginning of 2021. Jilin's fiscal revenue in January reached 16.46 billion yuan (about 2.54 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 22.7 percent, the second highest growth of all the provinces in China. And the figure for Liaoning during the same period also hit 33.14 billion yuan, up 3.7 percent year on year.
Five years ago, the region began to show a sharp decline in its economic performance indicators, as the northeastern "rust belt" has long been afflicted by an aging population, dwindling investment and talent outflow.
Lagging behind the national average, the region's economy suffered a body-blow dealt by the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, with a cluster of cases surfacing not long before the Chinese Lunar Spring Festival. However, all of the three northeastern provinces staged a strong recovery in the final quarter of 2020, bringing the full year's GDP growth to positive terrain.
Staff members work at a workshop of the Harbin Electric Machinery Company Limited of Harbin Electric Corporation in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 22, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jianwei/Xinhua)
HARD-WON LAURELS
In 2020, the fixed-asset investment in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang notched up growth of about 2.6 percent, 8.3 percent, and 3.6 percent, respectively. The industrial growth of the provinces also remained steady.
Ansteel, a state-owned steel producer in Liaoning, reported record high profits last year. China First Heavy Industries, a state-owned equipment manufacturer based in Heilongjiang, saw its profits increase 60 percent over the previous year.
It seems that the region is also determined to improve its image as an investment destination, with the business environment further improved and approval procedures streamlined. Foreign funds are pouring into the region as a result.
Global industry leaders like LyondellBasell and SK Hynix, covering a range of fields, including chemical production, new-energy vehicles and semiconductors, have piled into the region since 2020.
Li Kai, vice-president of China Academy of Northeast Revitalization, described the region's positive growth as a "hard-won achievement". He added that it has withstood downward pressure amid a complex internal and external environment.
"It indicates the strong resilience of China's economy and the fact that the fundamentals sustaining China's steady and long-term economic growth remained unchanged," Li said.
