Demonstration zone highlights Sino-ROK business ties

Changchun enjoys partnerships with six cities in the ROK, including Ulsan, Incheon and Jeonju.

Building on such friendly ties, the plan says the zone will target three areas for cooperation.

One area will focus on industrial collaboration in the fields of digital technologies, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, health food, optics and electronics. In this first area, the demonstration zone aims to attract the ROK's technological, human and market resources to boost its growth.

The second area for cooperation is to offer various trading platforms to help Chinese and ROK businesses expand globally. For instance, the China-Europe freight train service that links Changchun and a number of European cities can be extended for ROK companies, offering them a shortcut for trade in commodities.

The third area is to enhance people-to-people exchanges in the fields of science, technology, education, culture and tourism.

Local authorities believe there are many advantages to helping the demonstration zone grow.

Li Weibin, chief of the demonstration zone, said the zone's development is not only limited to cooperation between China and the ROK. It highlights multilateral collaborations with the neighboring countries of Russia, Japan, Mongolia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The multilateral cooperation mechanism of the zone is made possible by its geographical location as a hub of Northeast Asia," Li said. "Companies in countries like the ROK and Japan can make better use of Changchun as a hub of the northern route of the China-Europe freight train service for their exports to Central and Western Asia and Europe. This route represents a substantial decrease in travel time compared with the traditional maritime routes."