Vice Premier Liu He has called for international collaboration on robotics, a key part of the country’s plan to lead the world in the technology of the future. At the World Robot Conference in Beijing, he said that while China had made advances in the technology, it was still a fair way behind the world’s best. Vice Premier Liu is responsible for science and technology policymaking in China’s cabinet. In his speech he avoided mentioning “Made in China 2025”, China’s industry master plan that has been targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump. Instead, he stressed the need for concerted joint efforts in robotics.

“We live in a new era. Many challenges cannot be solved by a single company or a country on its own. The challenges facing humanity are much bigger than our differences and conflicts. For instance, robotic development raises many new questions that we need to solve together,” Liu said. He added that China would actively pursue development of the robotics industry by opening up to the outside world, welcoming foreign investment, and protect the legal rights of foreign companies in China. He said that given the robotics industry was still at an early stage of development, China would provide more space for entrepreneurs and scientists to explore and think freely while creating a fair and competitive market environment.

China aims to have a full supply chain of robotic production in 2025, with domestically developed industrial robots serving 70% of the Chinese market. China made more than 130,000 industrial robots in 2017, up about 68% from a year earlier. Beijing expects sales of industrial robots to reach 200,000 in 2020 and 300,000 in 2025. The World Robot Conference was organized by the Beijing municipal government, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), and the China Association for Science and Technology.