A Chinese steel worker helps load steel rods onto a large truck for transport at a plant on April 6, 2016 in Tangshan, Hebei province, China. (Photo : Getty Images/Kevin Frayer)
A recent report published by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) claimed that China currently ranks fourth in the world vis-à-vis manufacturing ability. The other three top manufacturing giants include the United States, Germany and Japan.
Since 200, China has been working hard to bridge the gap between it and the other three manufacturing powerhouses, the Chinese state media Xinhua said quoting the 2015 China Manufacturing Development Index. The report further quoted the CAE president Zhou Ji saying that manufacturing provides a solid ground for any strong nation, and it is also vital for uplifting China's economy.
A year ago, China's State Council introduced a decade-long plan titled "Made in China 2025" last year with a view to update China's manufacturing set up. The plan aimed to help China attain the manufacturing standards of Japan and Germany in the next 10 years.
Although China's manufacturing ability has improved greatly over the years, the country still faces several major obstacles for China in becoming a global leader in manufacturing. Hence, it is essential for China to prevail over the obstacles like excess capacity and substandard production quality to achieve its goals.
According to the CAE report, it is important for China to modify a status quo wherein the West continues to control as well as monopolize several crucial industrial techniques. Currently, China accounts for roughly 20 percent of the total global manufacturing ability.
Even as the country's performance in the manufacturing sector is showing huge improvement, business in China's non-manufacturing sector expanded at sluggish pace during April, another report pointed out.
A report released collectively by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated that the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the country's non-manufacturing sector witnessed a decline from 53.8 in March to 53.5 in April. Even the service sector sub-index was 52.5 in April, 0.6 points down from March.
Businesses associated with tourism, accommodation, telecommunications and storage posted sound growth in April. However, wholesale, catering, insurance and repairing industries showed a decline in business volumes.
Watch how China is transforming into the "factory of the world" below:
