China's efforts to rejuvenate its northeastern rust belt have yielded positive results as Liaoning Province's gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded one trillion yuan in 2007.

Liaoning's GDP is estimated to have grown by a record high of 14.5 percent to hit 1.09 trillion yuan (about 149.32 billion U.S. dollars) last year, and the province is the eighth in the country to have a GDP above one trillion yuan, said acting governor Chen Zhenggao at the 5th plenary session of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the economic work meeting held on Friday.

Seven other regions already with a GDP above one trillion yuan in 2006 were Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan, Hebei provinces and Shanghai Municipality.

Liaoning also saw a growth of 32.3 percent in general budget revenue which reached 108.2 billion yuan (about 14.82 billion U.S. dollars).

"Both achievements symbolize the fact that Liaoning has entered a new stage thanks to the campaign to rejuvenate the rust belt," said Chen.

Liaoning, which used to serve as an important industrial base under the country's planned economy, slipped into the doldrums when the country began to adopt a reform and opening-up drive about three decades ago and gradually endorse a market economy.

With a legion of old industrial workshops and backward production lines, Liaoning was overshadowed by other Chinese regions on the coast, such as Guangdong and Zhejiang.

The central Chinese government put forward a strategy to invigorate the northeast China in September 2003.

The northeastern region, including the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and eastern Inner Mongolia, has an area of 1.45 million square kilometers and a population of 120 million.

Under that strategy, Liaoning will be built into an advanced equipment manufacturing base of international competitiveness and a processing base of new materials.

With the support of the central government, Liaoning has seen fast expansion in the equipment manufacturing business characterized by machine tools and shipbuilding.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2008)