China seeks to hop tech hurdles with robots, 6G as industrial development hits key juncture

China pledged on Friday to make breakthroughs in emerging industries – including bleeding-edge fields like humanoid robots, 6G mobile technology and atomic-level manufacturing – that could enhance its strength in the high-growth tech arena while preserving traditional sectors as a bedrock.

The country’s unique system – which can concentrate resources on specific benchmarks – can be marshalled to fill gaps in core technologies created by containment efforts from the United States, said Jin Zhuanglong, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

“Though China’s industrial development has made great progress, generally speaking, it is still at an important juncture of growing from big to strong and climbing over hurdles,” Jin said at a press conference.

“There are still outstanding shortcomings in key core technologies and basic industrial capabilities.”

Vanguard industries like brain-computer interfaces, the metaverse, next-generation internet, quantum computing, deep sea and aerospace have also been singled out as areas of focus, according to Jin.

China would also build a number of national manufacturing innovation centres for emerging fields, he said, including biomanufacturing.

In 2023, China’s total industrial added value reached 39.9 trillion yuan (US$5.5 trillion), accounting for 31.7 per cent of its gross domestic product.

The added value of the manufacturing industry contributed 26.2 per cent of GDP and about one-third of the world’s total, according to the ministry.

China’s “strategic” emerging industries account for 13 per cent of GDP, with huge potential for growth, Jin said.

The current external environment is complex and severe, domestic effective demand is still insufficient

Minister Jin Zhuanglong

China would further enhance the technology of advantageous industries, such as new energy vehicles and photovoltaics, while expanding market scale and cultivating a group of leading enterprises in sectors such as artificial intelligence, the low-altitude economy and new materials to fuel industrial upgrades, Jin said.

As for traditional industries, including iron and steel, the minister said that they were the foundation of the modern industrial system and China’s manufacturing sector, which must be transformed and upgraded rather than being treated as a “low-end industry” that needs weeding out.

“The current external environment is complex and severe, domestic effective demand is still insufficient,” Jin said.

The country’s installation of industrial robots accounted for more than 50 per cent of the world’s total and the country has cultivated 421 national-level intelligent manufacturing factories, vice-minister Xin Guobin said.

Officials on Friday also pledged further opening up for China’s manufacturing sector.

Reform and opening up are the source of vitality for the development of contemporary China

Vice-minister Xin Guobin

As of the end of June, there were 2,037 foreign enterprises operating telecommunications businesses in China, Xin said.

“Reform and opening up are the source of vitality for the development of contemporary China,” he added.

“In the next step, we will thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the coming third plenary session of the Central Committee, implement reforms with determination and vitality, and continue to add new momentum and expand new space for development.”

Beijing confirmed last week that the third plenum would take place between July 15 and 18, where ambitious economic and tech development goals are expected to be set for the next decade.

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