Officials, industry insiders: Xi's instruction provides essential guidance for developing advanced manufacturing

In a recent instruction conveyed at a national conference on advanced manufacturing in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged sustained efforts to expand and strengthen advanced manufacturing to provide strong support for advancing Chinese modernization.

Speaking to China Media Group (CMG), officials and industry insiders across various sectors have responded actively to Xi's remarks, stressing that the instruction has charted the course and provided fundamental guidelines for building a manufacturing powerhouse on the new journey, and pledging to place the development of advanced manufacturing as a key strategic task.

Shao Ji, deputy director-general of the Industrial Development Department at the National Development and Reform Commission, told CMG that the convening of the conference on advanced manufacturing is of great significance for accelerating the building of a manufacturing powerhouse.

He called for solidly advancing the quality improvement and upgrade of key industries to facilitate their move toward the medium-to-high end of the value chain, accelerating the transition from old to new growth drivers and vigorously developing advanced manufacturing through multifaceted measures to provide strong support for advancing Chinese modernization.

Yao Jun, director-general of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, urged efforts to promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, strengthen breakthroughs in key core technologies and deepen the transformation and application of sci-tech achievements.

In his instruction, Xi emphasized efforts to ensure both high-quality development and greater security, pursue smart, green and integrated development, and make the country's industrial chains more self-supporting and risk-resilient.

He emphasized the need to accelerate the development of a modernized industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone and reinforce the foundations of the real economy.

Calling Xi's instruction "visionary, profound in thought and rich in content," Fang Xing, a finance ministry official, said the manufacturing sector is the foundation of the country and the lifeblood of the national economy.

"Grounded in our responsibilities regarding public finance, we will further leverage the guiding role of fiscal policy to support the better and faster development of advanced manufacturing," Fang told CMG.

Guo Shengjie, deputy general manager of Aviation Industry Corporation of China Ltd., pledged to continue tackling key core technologies and strengthen advanced aviation manufacturing capabilities, aiming to serve the goal of building a manufacturing powerhouse through tangible results in achieving independent and controllable aviation equipment.

Noting that the state-owned enterprises (SOEs), directly administered by the central government, are the backbone of the country's advanced manufacturing sector, Shang Peng, deputy director of the Planning Development Bureau of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, called for enhancing original innovation capabilities to explore new pathways for the transformation of the manufacturing sector and improving the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains.

"Guided by the direction set by Xi, we will focus on sectors such as major equipment, agricultural machinery and high-end instruments; master key core technologies; cultivate clusters of specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative enterprises; and drive the industrial and value chains toward the medium-to-high end," Zhang Daliang, head of the Strategic Development Department at China National Machinery Industry Corporation, told CMG.

Currently, the balance of manufacturing loans at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has surpassed 5.8 trillion yuan (around $0.86 trillion), said Zhang Feng, an ICBC official.

The bank will closely align with national strategic deployments and continue to precisely channel more financial resources into the real economy, Zhang told CMG.