BEIJING (Reuters) – China is at least 30 years away from being a “big power” manufacturing country, a former industry minister said Sunday, despite boasting the world’s most complete industrial supply chains .
In the last few years, China has become the world’s leading manufacturing country, accounting for more than a third of global output, driven by domestic demand to bring it all to fruition. from motor vehicles to industrial machinery. But its industry’s heavy reliance on U.S. high-tech products such as semiconductors was a strategic weakness.
“Basic capabilities are still weak, key technologies are in the hands of others, and the risk of ‘being hit in the neck’ and ‘sliding bicycle chain’ has increased dramatically,” said former Minister Miao Wei Business and Information Technology for ten years before retiring last year.
As China’s economy moves toward a model based on services and factories of polluted smoke stacks, manufacturing output as a proportion of the economy has declined. In 2020, manufacturing accounted for just over a quarter of gross domestic product, the lowest level since 2012.
“The ratio of manufacturing output to GDP has been declining prematurely and prematurely, which not only stresses economic growth and affects employment, but also provides security gaps for those our businesses and reduce the ability of our economy to withstand risks, and its global competitiveness, ”said Miao, who is now a member of the China People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the government’s main advisory body.
President Xi Jinping said in November that innovation in the manufacturing industry is far from appropriate, and companies need to deal with “bottled” technologies to become completely innovative.
“China’s manufacturing industry has made great strides in recent years, but the situation has not been ‘big but not strong’ and ‘broad but not good’ fundamentally changed,” Miao said in a speech to CPPCC representatives at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
There are many problems that limit the high-quality development of Chinese manufacturing, but the most fundamental is reforms that are not aimed at the market, Miao said.
While the tax burden on companies remains heavy, and financial support for the manufacturing sector urgently needs to be strengthened, a shortage of innovative and high-tech talent has also severely hampered sector development, Miao said.
“We need to sustain our strategic solution, stay clear-minded and understand the gaps and deficiencies.”
Reciting with Stella Qiu, Ryan Woo, Hallie Gu and Yingzhi Yang; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore and Christopher Cushing