CCTV:

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress has underlined that the resilience and security of China's industrial and supply chains will be improved. What has been done by the MIIT to enhance the resilience, security, and competitiveness of industrial and supply chains? What measures will be adopted next? Thank you.

Tian Yulong:

Thank you. We will have Mr. Tao Qing answer your questions. 

Tao Qing:

Thank you for your questions. Since the beginning of 2022, the MIIT has resolutely implemented the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, taken it as a top priority of its work to maintain security and stability in industrial and supply chains and worked with relevant departments to effectively respond to the impact of unexpected factors. With all these efforts, the overall security and stability of the manufacturing industry in China have been maintained, and the resilience of China's industrial and supply chains has been further enhanced. First, we have given equal emphasis to short-term response and long-term prevention and made every effort to ensure smooth circulation of industrial and supply chains to consolidate the foundation for ensuring stability. Especially when responding to the impact of the pandemic in April last year, we rapidly established a white list system for enterprises in key industrial and supply chains and promoted work and production resumption along industrial chains in a coordinated and systematic way. We have built up coordination platforms for key industrial and supply chains such as integrated circuits, automobiles, and medical supplies, established a "red light" early warning mechanism for auto parts inventory, and a "red, yellow, and blue" early warning coordination mechanism for bulk raw material supply, and helped to resolve problems that concerned enterprises one by one to ensure stability in key industrial chains. Meanwhile, we have comprehensively summarized the experience, guided local authorities to strengthen early warning and monitoring of emergencies, and set up contingency plans in advance to resist risks to reinforce the ability to withstand risks. Second, we have worked to shore up weak links and build up strengths at the same time and adopted a package of steps to strengthen the core competitiveness of the industrial and supply chains. We have held International Forum on Resilient and Stable Industrial and Supply Chains. General Secretary Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory letter to the forum. During the forum, we, together with Indonesia, and five other countries, have jointly released the Initiative of International Cooperation on Resilient and Stable Industrial and Supply Chains. Focusing on the blockages in industrial and supply chains, we have launched projects to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields and projects for upgrading foundational industrial infrastructure to promote breakthroughs in important basic products and core technologies in key fields. We have given play to the guiding role of plans in promoting traditional competitive industries and emerging industries to break growth bottlenecks. We have fostered clusters of advanced manufacturing, with global competitive edges in some areas taking shape. We have promoted the development of specialized and sophisticated SMEs that could produce novel and unique products and given play to the leading role of competitive enterprises to boost the dynamism of the manufacturing industry.

Next, we will keep putting equal emphasis on development and security, give priority to major tasks of shoring up weak links, building up strengths, consolidating foundations, and fostering clusters of industries, and accelerate the upgrading of the industrial base and modernization of industrial chains. Our work will mainly focus on the following three aspects.

First, we will cement foundations and move faster to shore up weak links. We will implement projects for upgrading foundational industrial infrastructure and projects to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields to build a more self-supporting, safer, and more reliable industrial system with their risks better controlled. We will encourage leading enterprises in industrial chains to strengthen cooperation with upstream and downstream SMEs on technology research, production verification, and standards setting to enhance collaborative innovation and integrated development of industrial chains.

Second, we will consolidate the advantages and create new growth drivers. We will take active steps to reinforce advantages in key advantageous areas, enhance the competitiveness of traditional industries, and accelerate the deep integration of the new generation information technology and the manufacturing industry. We will work hard to develop the digital economy, seize new strategic opportunities, accelerate the development of new technologies, new forms and new models, and promote the development of advanced manufacturing clusters.

Third, we will guard against risks and ensure stable and smooth industrial and supply chains. We will improve the ability to identify and cope with risks, strengthen the monitoring of key areas and key industries, and strengthen synergies between departments and regions to enhance the ability to cope effectively with risks in a coordinated way. We will expedite the implementation of policies on benefiting enterprises and keeping business operations stable, and guarantee the supply of industrial production factors to ensure normal production and operations of enterprises to the maximum possible extent.

Thank you!

ThePaper.cn:

Recently, the demand for medicine and medical devices such as antipyretic and analgesic drugs and oxygen concentrators has increased. What is the current production and supply situation of medicine and medical devices? What's the MIIT's judgment about the next stage of their production and supply? Thank you. 

Tian Yulong:

Thank you for your questions. Recently, the MIIT has implemented the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments. Under the direct command of the joint COVID-19 prevention and control mechanism, the MIIT, leading this mechanism's medical supply support group, has further guaranteed access to medical supplies together with group member departments and relevant localities. We have also made every effort to help pharmaceutical and medical enterprises fulfill their production goals as well as stabilize and expand production and capacity. We have increased the supply of key drugs in the market and guided their reasonable, orderly, and precise distribution. The current characteristics are as follows:

First, we have made every effort to ensure the production and supply of key medical materials. In terms of drugs, as of Jan. 17, on the basis of maintaining a production capacity of 200 million tablets for 17 consecutive days, 5.14 billion tablets of two key antipyretic and analgesic drugs - ibuprofen and acetaminophen - have been supplied, which can fully meet the medicine demand. In terms of medical equipment and devices, as signs of higher demand for medical resources for severe case treatment emerge, the MIIT recently focused its work on "preventing severe cases and ensuring equipment supply" in a timely manner. As of Jan. 17, the daily output of Azvudine, a small-molecule antiviral drug, has increased by 148% to 744,000 bottles compared with before New Year's Day. Daily output and production capacity have been greatly improved, which can meet the medicinal needs of medical institutions for patients with severe conditions as well as subsequent severe cases. Currently, thanks to a rising scale in production, the daily output of invasive ventilators has increased by 239% to 1,808 units compared with that before New Year's Day. The daily output of oxygen concentrators has increased by 280% in four days, and the maximum daily output can exceed 20,000 units. The supply of oxygen concentrators has been able to meet the basic needs of medical institutions. The daily output of much-needed finger pulse oximeters has exceeded 460,000 units, which can not only meet the needs of medical institutions but can also gradually and sufficiently supply society's needs.

Second, we have conducted precise distribution to prioritize needs in key areas. We share people's concerns. In accordance with the principle of "focusing on key areas and providing targeted distribution," we have worked with relevant departments to actively align with the departments in charge of civil affairs, rural affairs, education, among others and provided targeted medical supplies for key areas (populations), such as in elderly care, rural areas, and schools. Since mid-December last year, we have delivered nearly 136 million doses of drugs through large e-commerce platforms and local drug support platforms, benefiting more than 60 million people in total. Thanks to the convenience and accessibility of e-commerce, we have created a precise distribution model. At the same time, we have equipped every rural clinic with two finger pulse oximeters and supplied 1.172 million finger pulse oximeters in four batches so as to bring finger pulse oximeters to rural areas. Meanwhile, through various financial drives, including corporate donations, more than 10,000 medical oxygen concentrators have been provided free of charge for more than 800 counties lifted out of poverty across the country, fully covering 10,000-plus towns and townships in these counties. We have fully met the needs of key medical supplies for old-age care and child welfare institutions nationwide, as proposed by the civil affairs departments. Currently, we are working with education departments to ensure that the needs of universities for key medical supplies nationwide are satisfied.

Third, we have smoothed the supply channels of medical supplies through various cooperations. We have worked with the transport and postal departments to prioritize delivering urgently-needed medical materials at the community level, especially in rural and remote areas, and spared no effort to link up the "last kilometer" of delivery. We have also formulated a plan to guarantee smooth logistics of enterprises during the Spring Festival and strived to ensure transport and reserve capacities during the Spring Festival and other holidays.

Next, the MIIT will continue to further support the stable production of key medical material enterprises, strengthen supplies, targeted coordinated distribution, and never reduce its efforts in ensuring supplies.

Thank you!