President makes remarks during inspection of Jilin

President Xi Jinping has called for deepened reform and innovation to revive China's northeastern region, once a major heavy industrial hub, while highlighting the importance of State-owned enterprises in the country's development.

Xi made his remarks during an inspection tour to Jilin province from June 16 through 18, as he urged the region to make breakthroughs in revitalization while adapting to slower economic development.

The northeastern region has unique advantages in population, natural resources, industries, talent and infrastructure, and the central government has launched a national strategy in the past decade, including a range of support measures, to revitalize the former industrial base, Xi said.

The strategy has proven effective, Xi said, adding that he has confidence in bringing the region up to a new level.

"More efforts should be made to push forward the innovation drive ... to boost the vigor of the whole of society in innovation and business startups," Xi said.

Pilot zone highlighted

The first leg of Xi's inspection tour was the Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, home to China's largest Korean ethnic population and center of the Changchun-Jilin-Tumen Development Pilot Zone.

Founded in 2009, the pilot zone aims to boost cross-border cooperation in the Tumen River Delta, which straddles the borders of China, Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The pilot zone should be built into an example of the opening-up of border areas and international cooperation in Northeast Asia, Xi said.

Hunchun, a city in Yanbian, is making great efforts to seize business opportunities brought about by the revitalization of Northeast China and the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Silk Road Economic Belt, together with the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, commonly known as the Belt and Road Initiative, were proposed by Xi in 2013.

Hunchun will push forward its opening-up, strengthen its cooperation with the DPRK and Russia and speed up the development of such industries as energy, wood products and seafood while paying attention to environmental protection, said Gao Yulong, Party chief of the city.

At a company in Yanbian that is a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical giant Jilin Aodong, Xi inspected products and manufacturing lines, encouraging employees to closely monitor progress in the biopharmaceuticals field and intensify research to develop more high-tech products.

"Drug safety weighs heavier than mountains. Guaranteeing drug safety involves technology, management, morality and people's morale," Xi said, counseling every pharmaceutical company to take full social responsibility to ensure that "every type of medicine and every tablet is safe and reliable".

Li Bing'an, chairman of the company, said Xi's inspection greatly boosted the morale of entrepreneurs in Jilin. "We will push forward innovation-driven growth, cut the cost of products and make more achievements in corporate reform and development," Li said.

Xie Zhongyan, director of the Changbai Mountains National Nature Reserve Administrative Committee, said the reserve would follow the president's instructions and boost the development of four pillar industries including tourism, culture and mineral water production.

Changchun, the capital of Jilin province and a major city in the Changchun-Jilin-Tumen Development Pilot Zone, has introduced a range of key projects to maintain stable economic growth and speed up economic restructuring.

In recent years, the city has built an industrial system that features an advanced manufacturing industry, emerging industries and a modern service industry.

The president's visit to Changchun inspired residents and helped stimulate the city's growth, said Cao Wei, an official with the Changchun Industry and Information Technology Bureau. Xi spoke of the Chinese dream in terms of the industrial sector and highlighted the speeding up of new industrialization, Cao said.

Sun Hongbin, director of the Jilin National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, said innovation played a key role in the economic restructuring and industrial upgrading of Jilin city. The development zone will seek innovation-driven growth as required by the president and encourage the public to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship, Sun said.

Strong SOE backbone

While visiting Changchun Railway Vehicles, a subsidiary of China's biggest train maker CRRC, Xi praised a system in which every worker is required to register during key manufacturing processes, so any defects can be tracked.

Xi visited the driver's cabin of a high-speed train carriage and listened to an introduction by technicians.

High-speed trains have become a name card for China, Xi said during his visit, adding that high-speed train technology and cooperation were talked about a lot during his overseas visits in the past two years.

State-owned enterprises form the backbone of China's economic growth, Xi said. SOE reform should be deepened to increase the enterprises' competitive strength and capacity to withstand risks, he added.

Agricultural products

Xi also stressed the importance of food security during his inspection and promised to offer more support to farming areas so local economies will improve and farmers' incomes can increase. Food security is fundamentally important to national security, Xi said.

Cui Guangde, Party chief of Helong city, said, "The president spoke highly of rice cultivation in Helong and encouraged rice growers to launch their own brands."

The city will expand its area of rice cultivation and introduce e-commerce sales channels to increase farmers' incomes, Cui said.

Li Fumin, the mayor of Sulan, said the city would consolidate its rice industry and create well-known rice brands by introducing geographical indication.

Wang Zilian, Party chief of Gongzhuling, said Xi's inspection points the way for the city's economic development. Gongzhuling will make corn its pillar industry and establish an e-commerce industrial chain that features corn processing and corn products.

Winter fishing on Chagan Lake has become popular after A Bite of China, a documentary on the history of Chinese food and cooking that featured the sport, aired on China Central Television. However, the sales of variegated carp from the lake used to be limited in Northeast China due to storage and delivery issues.

In December, e-commerce enterprises including JD.com signed cooperation agreements with the Chagan Lake administrative committee to enable consumers in Beijing, Tianjin and some southern China cities to enjoy the delicacy.

Environmental protection

At this year's annual sessions of the top legislature and the top political advisory body, Xi joined a group discussion by the Jilin delegation and heard a report that the number of wild Siberian tigers had increased to 27 in the province.

During his recent inspection, Xi urged the province to push forward clean production and expand the coverage of green vegetation in an effort to make the sky bluer, the mountains greener and the waters clearer.

"The president's remarks have bolstered my confidence for environmental protection," said Li Shusheng, head of the water resources bureau in Songyuan.

In 2012, Jilin province launched a project to improve the quality of the water in rivers and lakes in the province. Nearly 40,000 hectares of wetland have been restored in the Xianghai and Momoge nature reserves.

More than 3,800 white cranes have visited the Momoge National Nature Reserve annually in recent years, accounting for more than 90 percent of the birds in the world.

liumingtai@chinadaily.comc.n