SHANGHAI: According to GE China President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Norbom, China is in the process of evolving from a low-quality product manufacturing center into a high-quality one, in which he sees vast market potential by bringing into the nation his company's environmentally-efficient products and services.

"If you look at some of the measurements, such as the purchasing managers' index, they are all heading in the right direction, with China's exports rising for the first time in December. So now I can absolutely see a recovery starting to happen in the manufacturing sector of China," he said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

"Like Japan, which started initially as a low-cost product base globally, China is moving towards better and higher quality product manufacturing a leader in technology development and research."