Chen Xiaozhu, deputy director in charge of science and technology under the ministry, said that China's information industry is now listed near the top in respect of scale, but not so in technical level. The reason for this is the lack of self-owned key technology.

She cited statistics from the Consultancy Center for Patent Application under the ministry, noting that nearly 90 percent of patents in China in this field are applied for by foreign companies.

She admitted that in the past years, Chinese companies began to become aware of the importance of patents and started efforts to catch up.

"But they still have a long way to go to catch up with their foreign peers," said Chen.

In the sector of data storage, for example, Qinghua University, which applied for the most patents in China, only applied for 13 patents in the past three years, while its peer Sony Corporation applied for more than 700 during the same period.

Chen said that the country has listed the research and development of new technology in the information industry high on its long-term economic plan and will adopt effective measures to encourage the application for patents.

(Xinhua 06/14/2001)