BEIJING, July 4 (Reuters) -

* China has started to construct the middle part of the eastlineof a natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and northern China,state-backed China Central Television (CCTV) reported onThursday

* The 1,110-km pipeline starts from Changling in thenortheasternprovince of Jilin and ends at Yongqing in Hebei province aftergoing through the Inner Mongolia region, Liaoning province andthe city of Tianjin, said CCTV

* The project is part of the 3,968-km China-Russia naturalgaspipeline with an annual transmission capacity of 38 billioncubic metres, aiming to meet increasing demand in populousBeijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

* The middle part is expected to complete by October 2020

(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Dominique Patton; editing byChristian Schmollinger) ((muyu.xu@thomsonreuters.com; +86 010 66271298;))