Chinese premier calls for reform in standardization work to boost high-quality development

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday urged efforts to accelerate the reform and innovation in standardization work, aiming to promote the quality upgrading in the real economy and strengthen the endogenous momentum for high-quality development.

Li made the remarks while presiding over a State Council study session. Vice-premiers Ding Xuexiang, Zhang Guoqing and Liu Guozhong delivered speeches at the meeting.

Standards serve as a crucial foundational system, playing a significant role in developing a modern industrial system and building a unified national market, Li said.

He emphasized the need to optimize the supply of standards to better align with the realities of economic and social development, and to strengthen digital technologies such as artificial intelligence to systematically advance the formulation and revision of standards.

The premier called for stronger implementation of standards, including the establishment of a mandatory responsibility list for enforcement, and efforts to encourage enterprises to adopt high-level standards. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of improving the internationalization of standards and steadily expanding institutional openness in the standards system.

Li highlighted reform and innovation as key drivers to comprehensively elevate the overall level of standards and the effectiveness of standardization management.

He underscored the need to better balance the roles of government and the market, and to support market forces such as businesses and industry alliances in playing a greater role in the development of standards.