China consolidates, expands competitive industries

Photo shows a view of the 5G-powered washing machine factory operated by Chinese home appliance giant Midea in the Jingzhou Economic & Technological Development Zone, Jingzhou city, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Since the beginning of this year, China has consolidated and expanded its competitive industries, including intelligent manufacturing, new energy and 5G-enabled smart agriculture. These efforts have resulted in solid progress in pursuing high-quality development, with the country's competitive industries evolving to become smarter, greener and more integrated.

Intelligent manufacturing, in particular, has emerged as a major part of China's competitive industries, with significant enhancements in the sector's competitiveness.

A washing machine rolls off the production line every 10 seconds on average at the 5G-powered factory of Chinese home appliance giant Midea, located in the Jingzhou Economic & Technological Development Zone in Jingzhou city, central China's Hubei Province.

In this smart factory, automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) handle material transfer, and 5G and AI-powered visual quality inspection systems complete appearance quality checks and record relevant information in mere seconds. More than 2,500 5G terminals are deployed throughout the entire production process.

Currently, China is accelerating its 5G applications. Reliable data indicates that the nation leads the world in constructing new infrastructure, including 5G networks and data centers, achieving historic breakthroughs in key 5G technologies.

Photo shows a photovoltaic power station in northwest China's Qinghai Province. (Photo courtesy of SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Co., Ltd.)

According to National Bureau of Statistics data, China's investment in new infrastructure increased by 16.2 percent year on year in the first half of 2023.

By the end of May, 59.4 percent of key processes in China's major industrial enterprises were automated, and more than 1,700 leading digital and intelligent workshops and factories had been built nationwide, statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

China's new energy industry typifies the green development of the country's competitive industries.

The nation produces 70 percent of the world's key components of clean energy equipment, such as photovoltaic (PV) modules and wind turbines. China's sales of new energy vehicles have led the world for eight straight years.

In northwest China's Qinghai Province, the Xining Branch of SPIC Solar Power Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Co. Ltd., operates fully automated production lines to create highly efficient PV modules.

The workshop can produce four solar cells per second, and its production schedule is booked with orders until 2025. The company is a global leader in efficient PV cells and modules, exporting products to Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Belgium.

An unmanned rice transplanter, equipped with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, works in a rice paddy. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

China's newly installed wind and PV power capacity exceeded 100 million kilowatts in the first half of 2023, with a total installed capacity of approximately 860 million kilowatts. This generated roughly 730 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, making wind and PV power one of China's most competitive industries, said Liu Mingyang, the head of the National Energy Administration's electric power department, during a press briefing on July 26.

China has established 45 national advanced manufacturing clusters in fields such as information technology, high-end equipment, new materials, and new energy.

China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is now widely used in agriculture.

An autonomous rice transplanter in Shanghai's Jiading district, equipped with BDS, recently transplanted rice seedlings along preset routes. The machine can turn independently and avoid obstacles when necessary.

With the rapid integration of BDS and 5G, China's agricultural machinery industry is accelerating. The country has developed and implemented a range of intelligent agricultural equipment featuring automatic driving and navigation, real-time operational status monitoring, and remote operation and maintenance capabilities.