BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- China's recently unveiled development blueprint places building a modern industrial system and consolidating the foundation of the real economy at the top of national strategic tasks to be pursued over the next five years.
This grand endeavor, guided by the principles of intelligent, green and integrated development, has been encapsulated in the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, which was approved last week by China's national lawmakers.
Aiming for a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, the plan has detailed a range of sub-tasks, with optimizing and upgrading traditional industries, and cultivating and strengthening emerging and future industries, high on the agenda.
Led by the Digital China initiative, this development blueprint also envisions that by 2030, the added value of the core industries of the digital economy will account for 12.5 percent of GDP.
China is harnessing efforts to modernize its industrial system at a time when a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation gathers steam, with analysts expecting this process to boost the real economy with innovation-driven growth and create global cooperation opportunities.
EXPLORING NEW GROWTH DRIVERS
Experts and company executives believe that for China, a major global manufacturing hub and the world's second-largest economy, building a modern industrial system stems from the practical need to open up new space for innovation-driven growth and consolidate the real economy.
"Manufacturing is the foundation of the country and the bedrock of a strong nation. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires consolidating the material foundation and strengthening the hard power of Chinese manufacturing," said Yuan Yuyu, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, and chairman of Medprin Regenerative Medical Technologies Co., Ltd., a company based in Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province.
Miao Wei, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, China's top political advisory body, said that in the AI age, China must accelerate an intelligent upgrade by building on its strengths of a complete industrial system and robust supply chains, noting that promoting broader and deeper intelligent transformation will effectively drive the transformation of the development model and open up new space for economic growth.
Miao, also deputy director of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee, said in a signed article published recently by the People's Daily newspaper that the correct development path for next-generation intelligent manufacturing is for production systems to be capable of autonomous perception, learning and decision-making. Therefore, efforts should be made to promote AI-driven production process optimization, so as to enable the manufacturing sector to make the most of the integration of AI technologies and industrial innovation.
Liu Qingfeng, an NPC deputy and chairman of iFLYTEK, a Chinese AI firm, said that it is imperative to fully leverage policy dividends to consolidate strengths and address weaknesses in the face of intense international competition.
It is crucial for a company to collaborate with universities and research institutions to tackle cutting-edge technological challenges such as intelligent speech and language processing, and brain science. This partnership is key to transforming technological breakthroughs into tangible forces that drive industrial upgrading and improve people's livelihoods, Liu said.
FOSTERING GLOBAL COOPERATION OPPORTUNITIES
China's commitment to opening up and win-win cooperation, and its supersized domestic market, mean its industrial system modernization journey will generate shared business opportunities with cooperating partners from around the world.
U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, banking on China's big market demand for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity, announced in March that it planned to invest 3 billion U.S. dollars in China over the coming decade to expand supply-chain production capacity. This investment marked another significant move by the company to deepen its roots in China and support the development of the local healthcare industry.
During German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's visit to China in February, enterprises from both countries inked over 10 business agreements spanning industries such as automobiles, machinery, energy, logistics and finance.
After taking a test ride in the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class in Beijing, Merz commended the close cooperation between German manufacturers and Chinese technology firms. He experienced the intelligent assisted driving system, a product of the collaboration between Mercedes-Benz and Chinese tech company Momenta.
At a press conference held recently, Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the 15th Five-Year Plan period will see a number of high-growth industries gathering momentum. He revealed that the combined output value of six major emerging pillar industries, including intelligent robots, is expected to exceed more than 10 trillion yuan (about 1.45 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2030.
On Wednesday, the NDRC unveiled 13 major foreign-funded projects with a planned investment of 13.4 billion U.S. dollars. It further pledged to step up support for foreign-invested enterprises and improve follow-up services for these projects, which are mainly in the manufacturing sector, including electronics, chemicals, automobiles and electrical machinery.
"Many foreign-funded enterprises now view the Chinese market as a gym and a testing ground," China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said at the same press conference held on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th NPC. He explained that this is because of China's supersized market and diverse application scenarios, which serve as a testing and application venue for foreign companies' innovation and R&D.
Wang said that by sharpening focus on the new investment areas that foreign-funded enterprises are currently interested in, in particular the future industries, the government will work to enhance the accuracy of industrial connections and the precision of investment for foreign-funded enterprises.
He added that China will continue to organize investment fairs effectively and enhance the capacity of opening up platforms such as pilot free trade zones and national economic and technological development zones, with a view to welcoming more foreign enterprises to invest in the country. ■
