China's rust belt creaks open slightly to foreign investors as recession bites

Shenyang

TRUCKS carrying hi-tech car components rumble in and out the gates of an American industrial zone in the heart of China's rust belt, using roads that the city specially renovated for the complex.

While foreign firms complain about being locked out of large swathes of China's vast market, the door has cracked open a bit wider in north-eastern Liaoning province as the authorities seek to revive the recession-hit industrial region.

The bustling activity at the Shenyang American Industrial Park, which hosts international suppliers for global car brands, stands in contrast with the darkened windows and empty parking lots of the moribund Chinese factories nearby.

Foreign firms feel more welcome in the provincial capital, Shenyang, and in parts of the south-west, than anywhere else in the country, according to a survey by the European Union …