China continues to move forward as a manufacturing powerhouse
Amid escalating trade tensions with the US, some observers have suggested that Beijing is preparing to replace its important State-led industrial plan Made in China 2025 as a major concession to Washington.
The blueprint is helping the country become a world leader in a number of high-tech industries, including robotics and new-energy vehicles, by setting specific targets for China to achieve.
Has China really scrapped this ambitious project to upgrade its manufacturing or has China played it down to meet the demands of the US government?
Minister for Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei recently reiterated that China will continue developing highquality manufacturing, vowing to cut more taxes and fees in 2019 to support more factories and industries.
Pushing forward with quality manufacturing is a major focus of the country’s economic work and planning, and improving innovation in supply chains is also crucial, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in a recent interview with several State media organizations.
“We should work on the shortcomings in core technologies to prevent research and development (R&D) efforts from failing,” he said.
This claim is also in line with the Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2018, which stressed the priority for economic work in 2019. The minister noted that developing advanced manufacturing and helping the sector become deeply integrated with services are priorities, and the country will continue to move forward as a manufacturing powerhouse and accelerate the industry’s high-quality growth.
The Global Times recently visited some manufacturing plants around Dongguan in South China’s Guangdong Province, which is known as a manufacturing hub and the world’s factory. The overall economic slowdown and escalating trade frictions between China and the US are weighing on Chinese factories, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Meanwhile, some businesses also have rising concerns over tightened social security requirements, which might become a new burden for companies. Others expect more concrete measures from the government in cutting taxes and fees in the coming years.
However, these factories all share a common ground – investing as much as possible in upgrading their production lines to become more competitive in the global market.
Although Miao did not specify targets for China’s manufacturing sector in this recent interview, unlike what the government mentioned in its Made in China 2025 initiative, he emphasized upgrading traditional manufacturing and developing emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and new-energy vehicles, which are same target sectors highlighted in the earlier Made in China 2025 blueprint.
China welcomes not only Chinese manufacturers but also foreign players to take part in Made in China 2025. US company Tesla’s recent ground breaking for a new high-tech factory in the country is a perfect example.
The country has been accelerating its opening-up to the world, with global manufacturers such as KUKA and Fanuc being attracted to invest here because they are betting on its growth potential. There is no way China will give up its efforts in becoming a manufacturing powerhouse.