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‘Two sessions’ 2021: China is ‘30 years off being a top-tier industrial powerhouse’
- Former industry minister says the country needs to plug huge gaps in basic areas before it can rise to the level of the US or Germany
- Bigger tax cuts and greater financial support also needed to lift manufacturing up the value chain, he says
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China will take at least 30 years to become a top manufacturing power like the US or Germany, its former industry minister has said, as Beijing steps up plans to reinforce its industrial foundations and supply chains over the next five years.
Miao Wei, who oversaw the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for a decade before stepping down in August, listed a range of basic challenges to China’s manufacturing sector, including its weakness in foundational areas such as basic parts, materials and technologies.
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Other problems were the foreign stranglehold on critical technology; greater uncertainty in getting access to core technologies and supply chains; and a “premature” decline in manufacturing’s share of the economy.
“[China’s manufacturing sector] is large but not strong, comprehensive but not outstanding – [a situation that] has not fundamentally changed,” Miao told other members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in a discussion on Sunday.
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“In the four tiers of global manufacturing, China is among the third-ranked countries. It will take at least 30 years to achieve the goal of becoming a manufacturing great power,” he said, according to state media reports.
Miao did not say how he made his conclusion about China’s industrial modernisation progress by 2050. But his tone and recent state media discussions are in sharp contrast with the same political gathering five years ago, when the “Made in China 2025” strategy was at the centre of the country’s last five-year plan.
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