On the production line of Guoxing Carbon Fiber Company of Jilin Chemical Fiber Group, the carbon fiber precursor is transformed into black carbon fiber after a process. Photo/Shi Lei

At the meeting on promoting the full revitalization of Northeast China in the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that it is necessary to foster strategic emerging industries including new energy, new materials, advanced manufacturing and electronic information, and nurture industries of the future, in a bid to create new quality productive forces and new growth impetus.

Continuously promoting the development of new quality productive forces is closely related to the revitalization of Northeast China. Cultivating new quality productive forces is becoming an important leverage for Jilin province and even the whole northeast region to foster new growth drivers and new strengths.

Taobei district of Baicheng city focuses on developing the new energy industry, with a number of projects launched. The photo above shows the production workshop of Jilin Electric Power Energy Valley's lead-carbon battery plant. Photo/Li Guangyou

Promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.

The equipment manufacturing industry is a bright calling card of Jilin province. Today, Jilin-made cars and high-speed trains are running on a new path for development.

In recent years, China FAW Group has been committed to transforming to the production of new energy vehicles in an all-round way, with its full technological innovation and production capabilities. The company has been striving to achieve positive results in one year, reach the forefront in three years and become an industry-leader in five years.

In 2023, FAW Hongqi's retail sales of new energy vehicles significantly increased, and the Bestune brand set a new sales record. Meanwhile, FAW spared no effort to make breakthroughs in key technologies for new energy vehicles, including batteries, motors, electronic control, intelligent connection, intelligent cabin, intelligent driving, intelligent computing and intelligent chassis.

During the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Fuxing Asian Games intelligent bullet train, produced by CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co, ran between cities and won praise from passengers.

Since 2023，CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co has expanded both domestic and international railcar markets and made breakthroughs in a number of core technologies in key fields, with the unveiling of China's first Type-C high-speed train in Shanghai, the world's first intercity hydrogen-fueled train rolling off the production line and the implementation of the DLS project in Medellin, Colombia.

In recent years, Jilin province has accelerated the integration of modern technology and the real economy to boost the development of traditional industrial bases in the new era. In the next three years, the province will support more than 300 intelligent and digital transformation demonstration projects in the fields of automobiles, pharmaceuticals, equipment, food, petrochemicals and raw materials, and will build 1 to 2 "lighthouse factories", 100 intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories and 300 provincial-level digital intelligent manufacturing workshops.

Qian'an county vigorously develops the wind power industry and actively participates in the construction of the "Land Three Gorges" project. The photo above shows local wind turbines. Photo/Pan Shuo

Advance the development of strategic emerging industries.

Under the guidance of the innovation-driven development strategy, Jilin province's strategic emerging industries are gradually becoming pillar industries.

In the west of the province, wind turbines are scattered everywhere, and photovoltaic panels are arranged in rows, presenting a magnificent scene of wind and photovoltaic power generation.

With the continuous construction of the "Land Three Gorges" project, the new energy industry chain is gathering momentum. As projects launched by CRRC Corp, Sany Group, China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corp and other industry-leading enterprises, the local production of wind turbine generators, blades, towers and nacelles is underway. Clean energy and its related industries have become a new driving force for the transformation and development of the province.

On the 300-meter production line of Jilin Chemical Fiber Group, the white carbon fiber precursor is transformed into black carbon fiber after a process.

Jilin Chemical Fiber Group has seen fast growth in recent years, with its carbon fiber production capacity ranking second in the world and first in China. It is expected that by the end of 2025, the output value of the entire carbon fiber industry chain in the province will have exceeded 30 billion yuan.

"Based on the development foundation of the carbon fiber industry, Jilin province has provided strong support for relevant enterprises to make breakthroughs in key technologies of carbon fiber, and has promoted the industrial cluster development and industrial chain integration," said Zhao Xinyu, deputy director of the China State-owned Economy Research Center at Jilin University. "The province will achieve excellent results in terms of quantity, efficiency and capacity of carbon fiber production."

Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co, as the pioneer and leader in China's commercial space industry, completed the task of launching 41 satellites in a single space mission last year. It has increased the number of in-orbit Jilin-1 satellites to 108 and built the world's largest sub-meter-level commercial remote sensing satellite constellation. The company occupies a dominant position in remote sensing information service and gradually becomes an important source of space remote sensing information in the world.

Jilin province has already laid a certain foundation in satellite manufacturing and services, said Su Jian, director of the Economic Research Center at Peking University and director of the 13th Central Economic Committee of the China Democratic League, adding that from the perspective of national development strategies in the future, Jilin has great potential to develop the satellite industry. The province will promote the full-industrial-chain development of satellite manufacturing and data processing, as well as drone manufacturing and low-altitude services, and will support Chang Guang Satellite Technology to carry out low-cost and mass satellite manufacturing, opening up new space for the development of the satellite industry.

Tongyu county advances the development of wind and solar power generation, and the clean energy industry gradually becomes a green new engine for economic development. The photo above shows the site of Xingdong booster station of the photovoltaic power base project. Photo/Li Guangyou

Accelerate the cultivation of future-oriented industries.

Currently, the advantageous industries of Jilin province are accelerating their growth, while the future-oriented industries are anchoring their development direction for the next 10 years or even longer.

Jilin Electric Power Company's Da'an green hydrogen and ammonia production project and China Energy Engineering Group's Songyuan hydrogen energy industrial park project are under construction. Sany's hydrogen storage digital demonstration project in Changling county and Shanghai Electric Group's green methanol integrated demonstration project in Taonan city will be launched.

In December 2023, Jilin province issued a plan for mapping out the new track of the hydrogen energy industry, aiming to gain an upper hand in the hydrogen energy industry and build the Northern China Hydrogen Valley. By 2025, the layout of the province's hydrogen energy industry will have taken shape, the industrial chain will have improved, and the industrial scale will have achieved rapid growth, according to the plan. The output value of the hydrogen energy industry will have reached 10 billion yuan, and the installed capacity of new energy will have been driven to 5 million kilowatts. By 2030, the output value of the hydrogen energy industry will have reached 30 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the province also issued a plan for developing the new energy-storage industry and giving full play to the role of new energy-storage facilities in ensuring safe power supply, stable system operation and new energy consumption, so as to boost the high-quality and large-scale development of the new energy-storage industry. The province will strive to achieve a new energy-storage scale of over 500,000 kilowatts by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), with comprehensive storage duration of no less than 2 hours. Efforts will be made by the province to achieve the transformation of new energy-storage from initial commercialization to large-scale development.