China urges materials firms to boost innovation, self-reliance in World Economy News 20/03/2026 China’s industry minister Li Lecheng on Thursday chaired a roundtable with small- and medium-sized enterprises in the new materials sector, urging stronger innovation and faster breakthroughs in key materials, according to a statement from his ministry. Li emphasized the strategic significance of upgrading the new materials industry for China’s high-quality development. Key focus areas for the ministry are advanced basic materials, critical strategic materials, cutting-edge new materials, and “AI + Materials.” Li pledged to strengthen policy coordination, talent supply and promote end-to-end collaborative innovation across the value chain. Representatives from eight enterprises attended the meeting. The ministry did not name the companies. Li called on the firms to raise the level of self-reliance and security in key materials for critical sectors, and step up research and development investment. China has been pushing to strengthen key core technologies in key areas, particularly in advanced materials, to achieve tech self-reliance amid intensifying competition with the U.S. Source: Investing.com 2026-03-20 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share