In Hengyang, industrial transfers yield 700,000 new jobs a year

Premier Li Keqiang called for Central China's Hunan province to play a leading role in accepting industrial transfers from eastern regions, as the manufacturing sector moves from the east of the country to the lower-cost inland.

During his two-day trip to the province, which ended on Tuesday, Li visited an industrial park and some villages in the city of Hengyang before inspecting an automobile component factory, a heavy machinery producer and a consumer-to-consumer online service provider in the provincial capital of Changsha.

In Hengyang's Baishazhou Industrial Park, he heard reports on industrial transfers and technological upgrades. Over the past five years, more than 16,000 industrial projects that transferred from the east have been carried out in Hunan, with overall investment of nearly 1.7 trillion yuan ($270 billion). These projects have created more than 700,000 jobs a year.

Industrial transfers from the east to central and western regions are in line with economic laws and more balanced development, Li said.

Mentioning that Hengyang is a city known for wild geese, the premier said it and the entire province should take a leading role in the massive industrial transfers.

The manager of a small company told the premier that it has been the great attention local officials gave to businesses that moved inland that has brought companies to the province. Li said officials should help solve problems for enterprises and cultivate an inviting business environment, instead of setting barriers. He called for deepening administrative streamlining and stimulating market vitality with quality governmental services.

Central and western regions should now compete with the east by improving the business environment, in addition to their preferential policies, he said. Central and western China can build an environment that is more inviting to business, as good as in the east, even though they don't have first-class facilities, he said.

In Changsha, Li visited the Bosch Automotive Products (Changsha) Co, a pilot smart manufacturing factory of German parent company Bosch Global.

China is open to advanced manufacturing strategies from other countries, including Germany, Li told its employees. China treats domestic and foreign companies equally, welcomes those from overseas to expand investment in all forms, and firmly vows to protect intellectual property rights, he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has several times expressed a wish to codevelop self-driving technologies with China, and Li said China would like to boost international exchanges with other economies in the area.

At a Sany Heavy Industry Co smart workshop in Changsha, Li learned that data from a survey of heavy equipment was compiled in an "excavator index", showing a surge in infrastructure building that he said should be carefully analyzed to show the economic vitality of different regions.

The premier called on manufacturers, including Sany, to use industrial internet platforms for talent and innovative ideas, which will help integrated development for small and large enterprises.