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.
History
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
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
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
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
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Carry out foreign cooperation and exchanges related to industry, communications and informatization, and represent the country in relevant international organizations.
Undertake any other matters assigned to it by the State Council.
Structure
According to the "Regulations on the Main Responsibilities of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, its Internal Organization and Staffing" and to the "Reply of the Office of the Central Institutional Establishment Committee on Matters Related to Further Clarifying the Main Responsibilities of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Local Communications Administration Bureaus" (reply of the Central Organization Office [2012] No. 17), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has the following internal organization.[11][12] Names in parentheses are alternative nameplates or subunits[13]
Internal Functional Offices
General Office (办公厅)
Industrial Policy and Legislation Department (产业政策与法规司)
Planning Department (规划司)
Financial Department (财务司)
Science and Technology Department (科技司)
New Technologies Department (高新技术司)
Operational Monitoring and Coordination Bureau (运行监测协调局)
Medium and Small Enterprises Bureau (中小企业局)
Energy Saving and Comprehensive Utilization Department (节能与综合利用 )
Production Safety Department (安全生产司)（National Office of Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention — 国家履行《禁止化学武器公约》工作办公室）
Raw Materials Industry Department (原材料工业司)（Rare Earths Office — 稀土办公室）
Equipment Production First Department (装备工业一司)
Equipment Production Second Department 装备工业二司（National Heavy Machinery Office — 国家重大技术装备办公室）
Consumer Goods Industry Department (消费品工业司)
Civil-Military Fusion Promotion Department (结合推进司)
Electronic Communications Department (电子信息司)
Communications Engineering Development Department (信息技术发展司)
Information and Communication Development Bureau (信息通信发展司)
Information and Communication Management Bureau (信息通信管理局)
Internet Safety Management Bureau (网络安全管理局)
Radio and EMS Management Bureau (无线电管理局)（National Radio Office — 国家无线电办公室）
International Cooperation Department (国际合作司)（Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Office — 港澳台办公室）
^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.
^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
^ abcdThese are "Vice-ministerial universities", in which the Principal and the Party Secretary have vice-ministerial rank and they are directly appointed or removed by the Central Committee of the CCP.
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