China seeks to hop tech hurdles with robots, 6G as industrial development hits crossroads

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Friday laid out a plan to make breakthroughs in emerging industries and bypass restrictions

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Jin Zhuanglong, China’s minister of industry and information technology, says the country’s ability to concentrate resources on specific benchmarks can be marshalled to fill gaps in core technologies created by containment efforts from the United States. Photo: dpa

Published: 10:30pm, 5 Jul 2024Updated: 1:03am, 6 Jul 2024

China pledged on Friday to make breakthroughs in emerging industries – including bleeding-edge fields like humanoid robots, 6G mobile technology and atomic-level manufacturing – that could enhance its strength in the high-growth tech arena while preserving traditional sectors as a bedrock.

The country’s unique system – which can concentrate resources on specific benchmarks – can be marshalled to fill gaps in core technologies created by containment efforts from the United States, said Jin Zhuanglong, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

“Though China’s industrial development has made great progress, generally speaking, it is still at an important juncture of growing from big to strong and climbing over hurdles,” Jin said at a press conference.

“There are still outstanding shortcomings in key core technologies and basic industrial capabilities.”

Vanguard industries like brain-computer interfaces, the metaverse, next-generation internet, quantum computing, deep sea and aerospace have also been singled out as areas of focus, according to Jin.

China would also build a number of national manufacturing innovation centres for emerging fields, he said, including biomanufacturing.