Li Yizhong, a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said on Saturday that the government should support either the development of new technology or the transformation of traditional technology to improve the efficiency of the supply side.

Li, the former minister of Industry and Information Technology, noted in the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday morning, that the premier said new momentum should rise while traditional momentum should transform to form the "twin engines" of the economy. The CPPCC member said this can be translated for industry as "We should have two 'support structures'. One should exist to support, nurture and develop new industry and the other, to support the transformation and reform of the traditional industry."

He added, "This will speed up the shift of new and old momentum and improve the general efficiency of the supply side."

The 13th Five Year Plan will be implemented when both new and old momentum shift. Li said researching and developing core and key technology is the priority for developing new industries.

"For example, our country's photovoltaic industry has walked long and winding roads in past five years. We didn't manage to develop the latest technology, and then we blindly developed the industry. As a result, the low-end products were in excess. When we export them, some foreign countries will go against us under the name of anti-dumping. And we need to import the high-end products too," Li said.

"Now, the industry has stepped on the right path, but we have still only managed to develop half of the core technology," he continued, "Actually, those core technologies can't be bought. We have to do independent innovation and industrialize the new technology. The core technologies are the soul of new industry."

He also pointed out that when developing new industries, the traditional industries can be the support and base. "The transformation of traditional industries can be integrated into the development of new industries, and the two can move forward together."

However, Li warned that developing new industries should avoid a new round of production capacity excess. The central and local governments and industries should reasonably plan and differently manage the sectors.

According to him, in recent years, new technology's growth rate concerning industrial added value was 5 percent higher than that of traditional industries, and investment growth was also bigger than traditional industries. But the new high-tech industry only generated 11.8 percent of proportion in the whole manufacture industry. The fast-speed growth still cannot make up what the traditional industry lost.

Li suggested the most important thing to do is to improve the technology transformation to upgrade the traditional industries and make the huge industrial assets' stocks live again. He said in the 13th Five Year Plan, more investment should be put into technology transformation to develop the nation's fiscal support while the government departments should issue more guiding policies to encourage the transformation. At the same time, scientific research and development departments should strengthen the combination of research and industrialization to transform scientific achievements into new production power.

Li is in Beijing attending the annual session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee, China's top political advisory body, which runs until March 14.

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