China Announces Package to Boost Hi-Tech Exports

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology have decided to jointly implement a package to boost China's exports of hi-tech products.
This was announced in a joint circular issued recently by the two ministries entitled "Boosting Exports through Science and Technology."

Under the package, China will designate a number of hi-tech products and their exporters, and will map out special supporting policies to encourage the manufacture and export of hi-tech products.

Boosting exports through science and technology is the way for China to become a larger and more powerful exporter, the circular notes, adding that encouraging the growth of the hi-tech sector and its exports is the ultimate way to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese products in the international market and maintain continuous export growth.

Through the implementation of this new package, China aims to increase its exports of hi-tech products by 30 percent annually beginning this year. By the year 2002, the proportion of China's exported hi-tech products should climb from a current six percent of overall exports to 14 percent.

Five hi-tech areas -- information, bio-medicine, high value- added new materials, consumer electronic products, and family appliances -- have been designated this year as the first group of products to enjoy government preferential treatment and other incentives.

The package also includes a preferential policy to cultivate hi- tech products development zones, cities, and companies, and set-up a nationwide hi-tech exports information service network, and the launching of annual hi-tech fairs, according to the circular.

In addition, the two departments will establish special coordinating bodies for the implementation of the package.
MOFTEC Minister Shi Guangsheng first put forward the strategy of "boosting exports through science and technology" early this year, saying that China's export of hi-tech products was far too low.

Considering that China has witnessed the upgrading of its technological level and the rapid growth of its economy, Shi said, China needs to catch up with India and other developing nations in terms of hi-tech exports.

India's software exports, for example, reached 1.75 billion U.S. dollars in 1997, second only to the United States. This figure was many times that of China, the minister said.