Coastal renaissance vital for northeast Asian prosperity

By Zhu Chengpei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-10 08:40

The development of the coastal economic belt of Liaoning is of great importance for regional cooperation throughout Northeast Asia, according to a number of leading commentators. The comments come in the light of the State Council recently approving a plan to boost the development of the region's coastal area.

Coastal renaissance vital for northeast Asian prosperity

Commenting on the decision, Liu Bin, a professor at the Dalian Maritime University, said: "The timing of this announcement shows the central government hopes Liaoning will lead a degree of regional revitalization amid the current global economic slump."

In the wake of the economic slowdown, the Asia Pacific region has emerged as the most likely center for initial financial recovery. Within that region, Northeast Asia is tipped to be one of the most dynamic areas of growth, according to Li Jingyu a professor at the Liaoning Normal University.

As the only coastal area in northeast China, the development of the Liaoning region is considered essential for the country's plan to transform the fortunes of many of the traditional industrial bases in the region.

With the benefits of a developed transport infrastructure, rich natural resources and a sound industrial basis, the coastal zone is widely seen as having the potential to become the core economy in the region, Li said. The development plan of the coastal economic area has been designed to be in line with the planned overall industrial upgrading of the region.

As a coastal area with excellent port facilities, Dalian is widely considered as a suitable base for large-scale chemical and manufacturing industries. The quality of its port facilities gives it a huge cost advantage in terms of bulk transportation. At present, about one third of the iron ore and crude oil, imperative for the chemical and steel plants in northeast China, are transported via ports in Liaoning.

Li said: "This factor alone demonstrates Lioaning's natural advantages in terms of developing large-scale chemical or petroleum plants. This could lead to the industrial upgrading of the whole region."

Li also believes that the development of the region will speed up the process of urbanization in the province. "Those currently unemployed will migrate to the newly founded small towns and further fuel the fast development of the coastal economic belt." he said.

He also called on developers in the region to learn the lesson from the renewal programs initiated in the coastal areas of other countries and also to ensure that each city should map out it's own individual program for the future.

Li said: "The upgrading of the industrial structure of the coastal economic belt should focus on the construction of several major industrial clusters. Each city should map out its industrial aspirations based on its existing strengths.

"For instance, Dandong should focus on its traditional industry - auto parts manufacturing. Changxing Island in Dalian should develop its equipment manufacturing capacity and its shipbuilding. Yingkou can focus on biomedicines and new energy while Jinzhou should give priority to heavy chemical plants and the petro-chemical industry."

The coastal economic belt is adjacent to the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. It includes six coastal cities - Dalian, Dandong, Jinzhou, Yingkou, Panjin and Huludao. With an inland area of more than 56,000 Sq km, its coastline stretches to nearly 3,000 km.