BEIJING — China will step up efforts to promote development of new materials to help build the nation into a manufacturing power, Vice-Premier Ma Kai said on Jan 9.

New materials is an important leading industry with fundamental significance, Ma said at a meeting of the national leading group on new materials industrial development.

Quickening the development of the industry is a strategic decision taken by the central authorities with no time to be wasted, he stressed.

Greater efforts must be made to facilitate the new materials sector in line with conditions of Chinese industrial development and to cope with changes brought by the latest round of the new materials revolution, said Ma, also the head of the leading group.

Strong leadership and coordination will be important in this endeavor, and focus should be laid on important basic materials and frontier new materials to help tackle bottlenecks in industrial development, he added.

Priority must be given to innovation with the construction of national new materials innovation centers, while a market-oriented and civil-military integration approach is encouraged with the government playing a facilitating role, he said.