INTERVIEW: China's Hebei Industrial Zone Wants Japanese Firms

Tokyo, March 3 (Jiji Press)--Japanese companies with sophisticated environmental technologies will be welcomed at a "green" industrial complex in China's Hebei Province, a senior provincial official said in a recent interview with Jiji Press.
The Caofeidian Industrial Zone, a model area to bring together new strategic industries, can help vitalize economic cooperation between Japan and China, said Zhao Yong, Executive Vice Governor of the northern China province.
Noting Chinese President Hu Jintao underscores the significance of the industrial complex for his national strategy and that Premier Wen Jiabao and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama have agreed to promote the area, Zhao expressed the view that the zone's development will be a new project to deepen mutually beneficial ties between the two countries.
In view of Japanese companies' reluctance to move into the area, he stressed the provincial government will offer them special preferences, including lower taxes than at industrial zones managed on a national level.
He added that the pan-Bohai economic area, which includes the Caofeidian zone, will continue to grow over the next 50 years.
Zhao, 48, is seen as a possible future leader of the country. Like President Hu, he is a former member of the Communist Youth League of China.
During his visit to Japan, Zhao had talks with Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, also known as Nippon Keidanren.