More supply-side reform on agenda

China will take more concrete steps to further its supply-side structural reform and push for high-quality development in 2018, focusing on cutting overcapacity and fostering new growth drivers in the real economy, said officials and analysts.

"The country will establish development funds to further the Made in China 2025 strategy and direct more private capital into the real economy, in order to better finance important manufacturing projects," said Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, at the annual conference of the MIIT, without elaborating on the size of the funds.

According to Miao, China will establish three new national innovation centers in 2018, and aims to tackle 50 bottlenecks that impede industrial development such as high-performance batteries for electric vehicles.