Official: Industrial, supply chains need intl support

China is willing to join hands with the international community to boost the resilience and stability of global industrial and supply chains in order to drive worldwide economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, said the country's top industry regulator on Thursday.

Xin Guobin, vice-minister from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said global industrial and supply chains are "a major channel and aorta" for the high-speed flow and efficient allocation of production factors including capital, technology, talent, knowledge and information.

"Therefore, global industrial and supply chains have increasingly become an important international public good, which requires joint construction, maintenance and governance of all countries," Xin said.

" (To stabilize the global chains), international cooperation is not an option but a must. It will not only support economic cycles of various countries, but also offer a broader space for win-win cooperation among countries," he added.

Xin made the remarks ahead of an international conference on the resilience and stability of industrial and supply chains to be held from Sunday to Tuesday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

"China hopes to create a high-end platform for dialogue and exchange for Chinese and foreign enterprises, so as to contribute to the smooth operation of the world economy and global economic recovery," he added.

To help tackle challenges facing work resumption and logistics brought by the pandemic, Chinese authorities have launched a series of measures to ensure the smooth operation of industrial and supply chains and bring about stabilization of the industrial economy.

The MIIT, for instance, announced a total of 1,722 companies on a "white list" to help them resume operations, and promoted regional mutual recognition of over 20,000 companies on the list from different provinces and regions.

To boost the resilience of global chains, it is also important to build a more innovative, higher value-added and reliable industrial and supply chain system, said Xu Weihua, deputy mayor of Hangzhou.

"The city has nurtured a group of leading companies focused on key technologies of major industrial and supply chains, and has promoted their cooperation with countries like Germany, the United States and France," Xu said.