China’s Key Ministries Launch Intensive Investigations to Boost Emerging Industries

Since the start of this year, key Chinese ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) have launched a high-frequency, cross-sectoral and focused investigation campaign, visiting the frontlines of scientific research, enterprise workshops and market frontiers to gain in-depth insights into industrial development.

Reporters have sorted out that future industries, emerging industries and digital-intelligent transformation have become the common focus of these investigations, reflecting the country’s determination to promote high-quality economic development in the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Recently, a responsible person from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology visited the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center to investigate the innovative application of information technology and the development of future industries. The official emphasized the need to “deeply understand the importance and urgency of fostering future industries, proactively adapt to changes, and seize the commanding heights of future development”.

A responsible person from SASAC recently went to Sichuan to investigate the scientific research and production frontlines of relevant central enterprises. The official noted that as the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, central enterprises should seize opportunities, innovate boldly, and inject strong momentum into the stable and positive economic development. He also stated the need to accelerate industrial upgrading, promote the transformation of traditional industries towards intelligence, greenization and integration, and vigorously develop strategic emerging industries and future industries to open up a “second curve” of growth.

The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China clearly states the need to “develop and expand emerging industries” and “lay out future industries in advance”. Zhu Keli, founding president of the China New Economy Research Institute, told Securities Daily that the intensive investigations by various ministries are a distinct manifestation of proactive policy efforts at the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Fu Yifu, special researcher at Suzhou Commercial Bank, believes that the investigations aim to identify technological bottlenecks, industrial pain points and market demands, providing a basis for the formulation of precise and systematic policies in the future. Zhu Keli admitted that enterprises still generally face pain points such as large investment, long cycle, high risk in cutting-edge technology R&D, and difficulty and high cost in financing when deploying emerging and future industries.

Digital-intelligent transformation also runs through the investigations. On April 10, SASAC visited China Telecom and required central enterprises to comprehensively promote the digital-intelligent transformation of financial management in five aspects: top-level design, system construction, data management, risk control and supervision closed-loop.

A responsible person from the Ministry of Commerce emphasized during an investigation in Yiwu that digital trade is a new engine for foreign trade development. He called for giving full play to Yiwu’s market advantages, increasing the application of digital technologies, promoting the digital transformation of traditional trade, and accelerating the development of digital and green trade.

A responsible person from the Ministry of Transport stated during an investigation in Hefei and Bengbu of Anhui Province that digital-intelligent transformation should be used to improve the carrying capacity and traffic efficiency of transportation infrastructure. Fu Yifu noted that the focus on digital trade and transformation reflects the important role of digital upgrading in driving industrial development.