China to fast-track work resumption across industrial chain

China will take multi-pronged steps to resume work and production across the complete industrial chain at a faster pace amid the battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Friday.

Labor shortages, disrupted transportation, tight cash flows, as well as lack of raw materials and epidemic control supplies are the main barriers for the industrial chain to run at full tilt, said Xin Guobin, vice minister of the MIIT.

Leading enterprises in key industries such as medical supplies, daily necessities, public utilities, spring farming and foreign trade are encouraged to give a hand to their upstream and downstream enterprises to keep the supply chain stable, said Xin.

Supportive measures will be taken to ease the financing strain on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are vulnerable in the outbreak, to tide them over the tough time, he said.

He also noted that smooth transportation should be ensured to speed up coordinated work resumption of industrial chains.

The country will make strides in expanding domestic needs, cultivating emerging business forms and beef up "new infrastructure" projects such as 5G network, industrial internet and artificial intelligence, Xin said.

Over 95 percent of major industrial enterprises and outside Hubei Province have resumed operation, and around 60 percent of SMEs have restarted work, according to Xin.