The President of the People’s Republic of China began his trip to Heilongjiang Province with an inspection of a forest farm in Mohe County, Da-Xing’an-Ling County. He pointed out that equal priority should be given to afforestation and forest protection. He then visited the village of Beijicun, a border community on the Chinese side of the Heilongjiang River, where he called for the area’s tourism potential to be tapped.
Xi Jinping also visited Harbin’s Shangzhi City district, the hardest hit by the August floods, and assessed the progress of restoration work. Finally, the Chinese leader visited the Harbin Engineering University, where he highlighted the importance of work in the fields of education, science and technology. At the end of the trip, he heard a report from regional leaders on the work done and asked them to realize the strategic advantages of Heilongjiang’s position and focus on promoting high-quality development.
Heilongjiang is experiencing problems common throughout Northeast China. In the 50s of the last century, the region was the industrial base of the country. However, over time, its development slowed down due to obsolescence of production and limited access to foreign markets. At the same time, Heilongjiang accounts for more than a third of the national volume of explored mineral resources, and forests occupy almost half of its territory.
Xi Jinping called for accelerating the modernization of Heilongjiang’s traditional industries through technology and innovation, as well as seeking new areas of growth. He also emphasized modernization of agriculture through advanced equipment, technology and better management structure. Heilongjiang is called the country’s “grain breadbasket” and accounts for more than 11 percent of the country’s grain production. At the same time, according to the Chinese leader, it is necessary to improve the economic structure of the region, increasing the participation of the service sector.
Xi Jinping highlighted winter sports and leisure tourism. According to him, the natural wealth and border position of the region, as long as infrastructure is developed, will be able to guarantee a high level of tourist flow. He called for making Heilongjiang the country’s northern gateway, actively developing logistics ties with Northeast Asia and promoting cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
