Legislators: New forces will bolster supply chains, growth

China's emphasis on developing new quality productive forces and advanced manufacturing by giving full play to the leading role of innovation, will enhance the resilience and competitiveness of its industrial and supply chains, and inject new impetus into the country's long-term economic growth, said national legislators and industry experts on Tuesday.

Their comments came as this year's Government Work Report stated that China will strive to modernize its industrial system and develop new quality productive forces faster. The country will also carry out technology transformation and upgrade its manufacturing sector, foster and build advanced manufacturing clusters, and develop national demonstration zones for new industrialization — all to make traditional industries higher-end, smarter and more eco-friendly, the report said.

"Enterprises are the main force for bolstering technological innovation. New quality productive forces can effectively move the manufacturing sector toward higher-end, smarter and greener production, and improve the level of productivity development," said Jia Shaoqian, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

Jia, who is also chairman of Chinese home appliance manufacturer Hisense Group, said developing new quality productive forces not only means upgrading and transforming traditional industries, but also fostering strategic emerging industries and future-oriented industries.

According to him, Hisense is ramping up efforts to make innovations and breakthroughs in the cutting-edge laser display technologies, as well as continuously bolster the high-end transformation of traditional home appliances.

Emerging industries and future-oriented industries, including new-generation information technology and humanoid robots, are the main battlefields for the development of new quality productive forces, Jia said. His company has expanded its footprint in new sectors like integrated circuits, smart cities, intelligent transportation, optical communication and automotive electronics.

Zhou Yunjie, a deputy to the 14th NPC and chairman and CEO of Chinese home appliance giant Haier Group, said the high-quality development of China's manufacturing sector has entered the fast lane, and the industrial internet has become an important engine for advancing new industrialization.

It has played a pivotal role in bolstering industrial upgrade and transformation, accelerating technological innovation and promoting in-depth integration of the digital economy and the real economy by leveraging cutting-edge digital technologies like the internet of things, big data and AI, Zhou said.

He called for efforts to improve digital infrastructure and service system, and promote the development of intelligent interactive engine, which is designed for companies to customize products by collecting and analyzing data from consumers, and realize flexible manufacturing, while boosting productivity and promoting industrial upgrading.

Li Xianjun, an associate researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China's efforts in developing new quality productive forces and advanced manufacturing will help make China's economy more resilient, improve the resilience of its industrial and supply chains, strengthen the capacity to buffer against external risks and shocks and build the country into a manufacturing powerhouse.

"Intelligent manufacturing, which is a new type of production model formed by the deeper integration of AI and the manufacturing sector, is a crucial part of the new quality productive forces," said NPC deputy Zhong Zheng, also vice-president of Midea Group, another major Chinese home appliance maker.