China’s Drive to Revitalise the Northeast

Abstract

In 2003, the Chinese government made revitalising the northeast a priority, a clear sign that the ailing region can no longer be ignored. In the early 1990s, the region found it particularly difficult to adapt to the structural reforms and the country’s transition from a planned to a market economy. Industry and agriculture touched on crisis. Increasing numbers of officials and scholars agree that the northeast should have open, transparent and uniform rules of market operation, rather than funds, preferential policies and publicity drives. It has been proposed that the central government may consider designating the northeast an experimental region for the delegation of powers of examination and approval over such matters as investments by non-state enterprises and foreign businessmen, the starting of new projects and land-use rights.