SCIO briefing on China's industrial and communications development
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 22, 2019
Miao Wei:
China has made remarkable achievements in industry and information technology sector over the past 70 years, thanks to the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The CPC Central Committee has always regarded industrialization as a highly valued and strategic priority for national economic development. It has seized the historic opportunities brought about by the information revolution, and implemented the appropriate development strategies and policies for different situations and tasks at different stages. After the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping gave important instructions on revitalizing manufacturing and promoting the application of information technology in the industry. He put forward two strategies with the vision to build China into a manufacturing and cyber powerhouse.
Looking ahead and starting our journey from a new beginning, we should first cherish the great achievements, summarize past learnings and carry on good practices. We should follow the strategies outlined at the 19th CPC National Congress, uphold Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and adhere to the new path of industrialization with distinctive Chinese characteristics. We should also push forward in our efforts to create high-quality manufacturing industries and accelerate our work to build China into a powerhouse in both manufacturing and cyber development. We also should continue to make even greater contributions to realizing the two centenary goals and make China a great modern socialist country in all aspects.
Here is what I would like to brief you on for now. I will leave the time to you, and I am willing to take your questions together with my colleagues.Thank you.
Hu Kaihong:
Thank you, Mr. Miao. The floor is open to questions. Please identify the media outlet you represent before asking questions.
China Media Group:
Mr. Miao, the country has seen tremendous changes in its industrial landscape over the past 70 years since its founding, made a huge leap from being a small to a large economy and from a weak to a strong nation, and taken historic steps towards building a manufacturing power. What key words would you use to sum up the industrial development over the past 70 years? Thank you.
Miao Wei:
Thank you. I would use the following key words to summarize the achievements and highlights of China's industrial development over the past seven decades.
First, "No. 1 manufacturing power." China has made historic leaps in its industrial development since its founding 70 years ago, and since the reform and opening up in particular. The country's industrial value added exceeded 1 trillion yuan in 1992, 10 trillion yuan in 2007, 20 trillion yuan in 2012 and 30 trillion yuan in 2018. In 2018, China's industrial value added accounted for over 28% of the world's total, making it an important driver of global industrial growth. Among over 500 major industrial products in the world, China ranks the first in the output of over 220.
Second, "complete industrial system." China highly values the construction of its industrial system, and has distributed limited resources to its industrial sectors since the very beginning of its first Five-Year Plan, laying a solid foundation for its subsequent industrialization. After 70 years of development, China has now formed an independent and complete modern industrial system comprising 41 large industrial categories, 207 medium industrial categories and 666 small industrial categories. China is the only country in the world that has all the industrial categories based on the industrial classification of the United Nations.
Third, "innovation-driven development." As a major contributor of innovations, Chinese companies are continuously increasing their investment in research and development (R&D) and improving their level of technological innovation. They have become a fundamental driving force and source of the country's sustained and rapid progress. In 2017, the investment in the R&D of companies above the designated size increased from 0.56% in 2004 to 1.06% last year, and the number of valid patents of companies above the designated size reached 934,000, an increase of 29.8 times over 2004.
Miao Wei:
Fourth, "deep integration of industrialization and informatization." China accelerated the deep integration of industrialization and informatization and achieved positive results in the development of intelligent manufacturing since the 18th CPC National Congress. Since then manufacturing saw a continuous improvement in integrating more digital, internet and intelligent technologies. By June 2019, the popularization rate of digitalized R&D and design tools among companies reached 69.3%, that is, 69.3% of the companies used digitalized tools in their R&D and design. Up to 49.5% of key working procedures, such as numerical control machines used on production lines, were under numerical control. The deep integration of the internet, big data and artificial intelligence with the real economy laid a solid foundation for us to seize the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Fifth, "thriving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)". Over the past 70 years, China's SMEs and private companies grew from small to large and from weak to strong, and played a unique and important role in increasing employment, stabilizing growth and promoting innovation. By the end of 2018, the number of SMEs in China exceeded 30 million, and the number of individual businesses totaled over 70 million, contributing over 50% of the country's tax revenue, over 60% of its GDP, over 70% of its technological innovations and over 80% of the national employment. With the implementation of the central and local governments' policies to support SMEs, these companies will enjoy more opportunities, greater room for growth along their paths of development, and radiate a stronger vitality. That's all.
