Staff members of China Telecom set up emergency telecommunication equipment in Shadai Village, Qingshan Township of Datong Hui and Tu Autonomous County, northwest China's Qinghai Province, Aug 18, 2022. Photo:Xinhua

China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said on Thursday that it will encourage SOEs to increase scientific and technological investment in key areas such as semiconductors or integrated circuits and industrial mother machines.

Zhang Yuzhuo, head of the SASAC made the remarks at a press conference on Thursday. 

Zhang said the new guidance will make up for shortcomings, keep up with the frontier innovations in the world, strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation, and strive to phase in many innovative state-owned enterprises.

The remarks came after China's top leadership stressed the need to achieve self-reliance and ramp up strength in science and technology.

On Tuesday, the Political Bureau of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a study session on effectively strengthening basic research and consolidating the foundation of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Zhang said that it aims to continuously achieve new breakthroughs in the key core technologies, including increasing the investment in traditional manufacturing transformation and strategic emerging industries, covering integrated circuits and industrial mother machines.

It also vowed to push for new breakthroughs in improving the efficiency of scientific and technological research and development input and output. Participating in national scientific and technological innovation decision-making on a wider and deeper level is also encouraged, Zhang said. 

Zhang said that the total assets of the State-owned enterprises have increased from 31.4 trillion yuan ($4.56 trillion) to 81 trillion yuan over the past 10 years, and that total profits have increased from 1.3 trillion yuan to 2.6 trillion yuan at the end of last year.

Taxes collected by central enterprises have accounted for about one-seventh of national tax revenues in the past10 years, Zhang noted. 

SASAC said that State-owned enterprises have undertaken more than 200 major overseas infrastructure projects such as ports, railways, and airports over the past 10 years including the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway and the China-Laos railway. 

In the field of transportation, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway has already successfully entered trial operation, the China-Laos railway helped Laos transform from a land-locked country to a land-linked country, and the Greek port of Piraeus has become a bridgehead for sea-land transport in the Mediterranean region. 

In the field of communications, the overseas service networks of China's three major telecom operators, including China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, cover more than 40 countries and regions around the world. 

In the field of energy, the State-owned enterprises have undertaken nearly 300 projects such as hydropower, wind power and solar power, and built landmark projects such as the Karot Hydropower Station in Pakistan.

Global Times