CCP official admits China needs 30 more years to become manufacturing powerhouse, report

A senior Chinese Communist Party official has admitted the country needs at least 30 years to become a manufacturing powerhouse – citing such factors as a limited pool of talented employees and limited access to crucial technology.

Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former Minister of Industry and Information Technology, made the statement Monday at a CPPCC meeting, according to the Epoch Times.

He also said the  global manufacturing industry has four tiers with the United States first because the country is a global-science and technology-innovation center. 

The official said the European Union and Japan are on the second tier because they are at the high-end of manufacturing; China and some other emerging countries are on the next level  because they are on the  low- and mid-range of the manufacturing industry, The Times also reports.

And the fourth level mainly consists of resource exporting countries including Africa, Latin America and those among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. 

He also called China’s manufacturing industry "big but not strong, comprehensive but not good."

Citing weak basic capabilities and the control of  key technologies by others, he said, "It will take at least 30 years for China to become a manufacturing powerhouse."

Si Zefu, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC and chairman of the Board of Directors of Harbin Electric Corporation, also said on the same day that China’s manufacturing industry was "not as good as others" in three areas – innovation capability and innovation level; product quality and brand; and management level and efficiency, also according to The Times.