The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is the sixth-ranked executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireless, broadcasting, communications, production of electronic and information goods, software industry and the promotion of the national knowledge economy.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
中华人民共和国工业和信息化部
Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Gōngyè Hé Xìnxīhuà Bù
Agency overview
FormedMarch 2008; 16 years ago (2008-03)
Superseding agency
  • Ministry of Information Industry
TypeConstituent Department of the State Council (cabinet-level executive department)
JurisdictionGovernment of China
HeadquartersBeijing
Minister responsible
Deputy Ministers responsible
Agency executives
Parent agencyState Council
Child agencies
Websitewww.miit.gov.cn Edit this at Wikidata
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Simplified Chinese中华人民共和国工业和信息化部
Traditional Chinese中華人民共和國工業和信息化部
Abbreviation
Chinese工信部

History edit

In 2004, the MIIT began the Connecting Every Village Project to promote universal access to telecommunication and internet services in rural China.[2]: 24–25  The MIIT required that six state-owned companies, including the main telecommunications and internet providers China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, build the communications infrastructure and assist in financing the project.[2]: 25  Beginning in late 2009, the program began building rural telecenters each of which had at least one telephone, computer, and internet connectivity.[2]: 37–38  Approximately 90,000 rural telecenters were built by 2011.[2]: 38  As of December 2019, 135 million rural households had used broadband internet.[2]: 25  The program successfully extended internet infrastructure throughout rural China and promoted development of the internet.[2]: 25 

The State Council announced during the 1st session of the 11th National People's Congress that the MIIT would supersede the Ministry of Information Industry (MII).[3]

In 2013, the ministry's Made in China 2025 plan was approved by the State Council. It took over two years to draft by a working group of one hundred and fifty people. The plan's aim was to improve production efficiency and quality.[4]

In summer 2021, MIIT began a six-month long regulatory campaign to address a variety of consumer protection and unfair competition issues, including interoperability concerns, in the consumer internet sector.[5]: 114  It held meetings with executives from major Chinese tech companies and instructed them that their companies could no longer block external links to competitors.[5]: 114 

Functions edit

The ministry is responsible for industrial development, policy, and standards.[5]: 40  It also oversees industry operations monitoring, innovation, and information technology[6] and approves fixed-asset investment projects in industry, communications, and information technology.[5]: 40  It is the government body primarily responsible for supervising product standards.[7]: 107 

MIIT delegates much of its legislative and standard setting work to the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology.[5]: 143 

In 2006, Human Rights Watch said that the ministry is responsible for overseeing technical implementation of the censorship in China.[8]

The ministry is responsible for the current iteration of the Thousand Talents Plan called Qiming.[9]

MIIT has some regulatory overlap with the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR).[5]: 23  Although MIIT does not have authority to enforce the Anti-Monopoly Law like SAMR does, it uses its departmental guidelines to address unfair competition issues.[5]: 114 

Duties edit

According to the Regulations on the Main Responsibilities, Internal Organization and Staffing of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,[10] the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology assumes the following responsibilities:

  1. Propose new industrialization development strategies and policies, coordinate and resolve major issues in the new industrialization process, formulate and organize the implementation of development plans for industry, communications, and informatization, promote strategic adjustment, optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, and promote the integration of informatization and industrialization; promote the construction of a system of scientific research and weapon development and production that integrates military and civilian forces.
  2. Formulate and organize the implementation of industrial policies for industry and communications, propose policy suggestions for optimizing industrial layout and structure, draft relevant law proposals, formulate regulations; formulate industry technical specifications and standards and organize their implementation, and guide industry quality management work.
  3. Monitor and analyze the operating situation of the industry and communications industry, collect statistics and publish relevant information, carry out forecasts, early warnings and information guidance; coordinate and solve relevant problems in the operation and development of the industry and propose policy recommendations, and be responsible for emergency response, industrial security and national defense mobilization of industry and communications.
  4. Be responsible for making proposal on the scale and direction of fixed asset investment in industry, communications and information technology (including the use of foreign capital and overseas investment), and the arrangement of central fiscal construction funds, and approving and approving fixed assets within the national plan in accordance with the authority prescribed by the State Council's asset investment projects.
  5. Formulate and organize the implementation of plans, policies, and standards involving biomedicine, new materials, aerospace, information industry, etc. in high-tech industries, guide technological innovation and technological progress in the industry, transform and upgrade traditional industries with advanced and applicable technologies, and organize the implementation of relevant national major science and technology projects, promote the industrialization of relevant scientific research results, and promote the development of the software industry, information service industry and emerging industries.
  6. Be responsible for organizing and coordinating the revitalization of the equipment manufacturing industry; organize the formulation of major technical equipment development and independent innovation plans and policies; rely on national key projects to coordinate the implementation of relevant major special projects; promote the localization of major technical equipment, and guide the incorporation of imported major technical innovation.
  7. Formulate and organize the implementation of energy conservation, comprehensive utilization of resources, and clean production policies for industry and communication; participate in the formulation of energy conservation, comprehensive utilization of resources, and clean production promotion plans; and organize and coordinate relevant major demonstration projects and new products, new technologies, and new technologies. Promotion and application of equipment and new materials.
  8. Promote institutional reform and management innovation in the industry and communications, improve the overall quality and core competitiveness of industry, and guide relevant industries to strengthen the management of production safety.
  9. Be responsible for the macro guidance of the fostering of small and medium-sized enterprises, working with relevant departments to formulate relevant policies and measures to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and the development of the non-state-owned economy, and coordinate the resolution of relevant major issues.
  10. Coordinate and promote national informatization, organize the formulation of relevant policies and coordinate major issues in informatization; promote the integration of telecommunications, radio and television and computer networks, guide and coordinate the development of e-government affairs, and promote cross-industry and cross-department interconnection and exchange of important information, and sharing of information resources.
  11. Coordinate the planning of public communication networks, the Internet, and private communication networks; supervise and manage the telecommunications and information service markets in accordance with the law, formulate telecommunications business tariff policies and standards in conjunction with relevant departments and supervise their implementation; be responsible for the allocation and management of communication resources and international coordination, and promote universal telecommunications services.
  12. Unify the allocation and management of radio spectrum resources, supervise and manage wireless broadcasting stations in accordance with the law; be responsible for the coordination and management of satellite orbital positions; coordinate and handle matters related to military-civilian radio management; be responsible for monitoring and detection of radio sources, investigation and handling of signal interference, and coordinate the handling of electromagnetic interference matters; maintain air wave order, and organize and implement radio control in accordance with the law.
  13. Be responsible for communications network security and related information security management, be responsible for coordinating and maintaining national information security and the construction of national information security assurance systems, guiding and supervising the security assurance work of important information systems and the basic information networks of government departments and key industries, and coordinating the processing of major incidents related to information security.
  14. Carry out foreign cooperation and exchanges related to industry, communications and informatization, and represent the country in relevant international organizations.
  15. Undertake any other matters assigned to it by the State Council.


Organization edit

Subordinate Units edit

The ministry administers the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau.[11] The MIIT was historically responsible for the regulation and control of tobacco consumption, including the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a rather obvious case of conflict of interest. This task has since been re-assigned to the National Health Commission as part of a large-scale government reform in 2018.[12]

Under the arrangement one institution with two names, the MIIT reserves the external brands of the China National Space Administration and the China Atomic Energy Authority, although the level of control the ministry have over these two organizations is unclear.[6] The MIIT oversees the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank that focuses on telecommunications and the digital economy. It also oversees seven universities, including top universities such as the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Beijing Institute of Technology, the Harbin Institute of Technology, and the Northwestern Polytechnical University. The MIIT also co-manages the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, used by the government to invest in semiconductor companies, together with the Ministry of Finance.[6]

Structure edit

List of ministers edit

No. Name Took office Left office
Minister of Information Industry
1 Wu Jichuan March 1998 March 2003
2 Wang Xudong March 2003 March 2008
Minister of Industry and Information Technology
3 Li Yizhong March 2008 December 2010
4 Miao Wei December 2010 August 2020
5 Xiao Yaqing August 2020 July 2022
6 Jin Zhuanglong July 2022 Incumbent

List of party secretaries edit

No. Name Took office Left office
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
1 Li Yizhong March 2008 December 2010
2 Miao Wei December 2010 July 2020
3 Xiao Yaqing July 2020 July 2022
4 Jin Zhuanglong July 2022 Incumbent

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2023-10-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f Shi, Song (2023). China and the Internet: Using New Media for Development and Social Change. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9781978834736.
  3. ^ "工业和信息化部英文译名确定 新网站将上线_科技频道_新华网". news.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05.
  4. ^ Kennedy, Scott (June 2015). "Made in China 2025". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Archived from the original on 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Zhang, Angela Huyue (2024). High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197682258.
  6. ^ a b c "Decoding Chinese Politics". Asia Society. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  7. ^ Li, David Daokui (2024). China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393292398.
  8. ^ ""Race to the Bottom": Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship: II. How Censorship Works in China: A Brief Overview". www.hrw.org. Archived from the original on 2015-04-22. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  9. ^ Zhu, Julie; Potkin, Fanny; Baptista, Eduardo; Martina, Michael (2023-08-24). "China quietly recruits overseas chip talent as US tightens curbs". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2023-08-26. Retrieved 2023-08-26. The primary replacement for TTP is a program called Qiming overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
  10. ^ "工业和信息化部职责、内设机构和编制规定(全文)". www.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
  11. ^ "Beijing opens green super-ministry". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  12. ^ Leng, Sidney (15 March 2018). "China's ministry in charge of tobacco control had ties to the industry. Not anymore". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2023-09-21. Retrieved 2018-03-16.

External links edit