Domestic and foreign companies are equal in the “Made in China 2025” strategy, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xin Guobin said at the State Council policy briefing on May 24.

The briefing focused on issues regarding “Made in China 2025” and the upgrading of the manufacturing industry.

Xin said that since the strategy was implemented two years earlier, foreign-invested companies have participated in many projects of high-end, green and smart manufacturing, modern logistics design and creativity industry.

For example, the C919 passenger jet, which made its maiden flight this month, included some components from foreign suppliers, including General Electric and Honeywell, he said.

As foreign companies have become an integral part of China’s economy, China will not restrict them in implementing the “Made in China 2025” strategy. To the contrary, we are always open to international cooperation, he responded to concerns that “Made in China 2025” is aimed at protecting China’s domestic high-tech industry while suppressing foreign companies.

He also said high-tech industries cannot be successful under government restrictions, but it is common around the world for the government to issue some preferential policies, as they usually face high risk and uncertainty. “Developed countries still hold restrictions on the export of some technologies, equipment and products to China,” he said.

Focus on core technology

China will focus on core technologies in implementing “Made in China 2025”, such as high-end and smart equipment, Xin said.

Major projects will continue in many fields, including high-end numerical control machine tools, passenger jets, robots and smart manufacturing.

Weak technologies, such as sensors, industrial software, and industrial control system, should be enhanced specifically, he said. “Since smart manufacturing is the key in ‘Made in China 2025’, the use of sensors, industrial control system and internet is significant in smart decision-making. We should make breakthroughs in these bottleneck areas.”

We must transform China from a big manufacturing country to a global manufacturing powerhouse, and we have made many achievements, he said.

Preferential policies for pilot cities

Some preferential policies will be issued for pilot cities of “Made in China 2025”, Xin Guobin said.

These cities will be encouraged to set up innovation centers and develop specific industries based on their competitive advantages, so that different industries can experience balanced development.

They should promote administrative reform, cut red tape, delegate more power and improve public service for enterprises, he said.

He also mentioned talent training, hoping that pilot cities can issue more incentives to absorb talent, and create a favorable environment for them.

China owns IPR of C919

In answering a question about the core technologies of C919 owned by foreign companies, Li Dong, a department head at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the intellectual property rights (IPR) of China’s first large passenger plane was owned by the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC).

COMAC owns full IPR of the overall design, including structure, system, and aerodynamic design, and it has full responsibility of the plane for the clients, Li said.

He also said, as modern large jet manufacturing is a highly sophisticated industry, it is an international convention that the components of a plane come from suppliers across the world. As for C919, its 10,000 components have come from hundreds of companies.

Increase internet speed and cut fees

The government has issued 17 measures this year to increase the speed of internet services while cutting fees, Xin Guobin said.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is pushing major telecom companies to cancel domestic long-distance and roaming charges, and they are busy planning it, he said.

In addition, since May 1, three major telecom companies have reduced some international long-distance charges to 0.49-0.99 yuan ($0.07-$0.14) per minute.

Cutting internet fees is benefiting the real economy, he said. This year, telecom companies have cut internet fees by 15 percent, saving small and medium-sized enterprises over 10 billion yuan.