"We should vigorously push forward the development and application of high and new technologies, which are crucial to China's modernization drive and future prosperity," Wen Shizhen, provincial secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, said on Oct.12.

He made the remarks on the last day of the three-day provincial conference on technological innovation, which was presided over by Vice-Governor Chen Zhenggao.

Solid efforts should be made to gear up technological research and development, so Liaoning, the oldest and largest industrial center of China, will be able to build on its past brilliant achievements, Wen stressed.

According to the blueprint, scientific development for the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001 _ 2005) will focus more on nurturing high-tech industries and increasing agricultural production through advanced technology.

By the end of 2005, the comprehensive strength of Liaoning's industrial technology will have caught up with the world's technological level in the 1990s, he said.

The output value of the high-tech industry should cover more than 20 percent of the industrial sector.

In regard to agriculture, strategies will be geared towards accelerating the transition from a traditional labor-intensive mode to modern technology-based production.

"We should guarantee the development of the technology sector increases with a speed of over 20 percent annually, " Wen said. "If not, we won't be able to greet the first days of the new century with an impressive social and economic advances."

However, he indicated Liaoning is far behind those advanced coastal provinces and municipalities, such as Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shanghai in terms of technological innovation.

In 1998, the general output value of the sector was only 68 billion yuan (US$8.2 billion), with only 1,447 enterprises operating in the sector.

The situation is not suitable for such a big industrial province, Wen said.

To upgrade traditional industry through high technology, scientific administrations across the province should help distribute computer-aided, energy-saving and cleaner production technologies among the industrial sector, said Wen.

(China Daily 10/13/1999)