Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is the sixth-ranked executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireless, broadcasting, communications, production of electronic and information goods, software industry and the promotion of the national knowledge economy.

WWW miit.gov.cn

History

In 2004, the MIIT began the Connecting Every Village Project to promote universal access to telecommunication and internet services in rural China. The MIIT required that six state-owned companies, including the main telecommunications and internet providers China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, build the communications infrastructure and assist in financing the project. Beginning in late 2009, the program began building rural telecenters each of which had at least one telephone, computer, and internet connectivity. Approximately 90,000 rural telecenters were built by 2011. As of December 2019, 135 million rural households had used broadband internet. The program successfully extended internet infrastructure throughout rural China and promoted development of the internet.
The State Council announced during the 1st session of the 11th National People's Congress that the MIIT would supersede the Ministry of Information Industry.
In 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology convened a group of scholars and technical experts to prepare a report about how China could become a manufacturing superpower; this report later developed into Made in China 2025. Later that year, the ministry's Made in China 2025 plan was approved by the State Council. It took over two years to draft by a working group of one hundred and fifty people. The plan's aim was to improve production efficiency and quality.
In summer 2021, MIIT began a six-month long regulatory campaign to address a variety of consumer protection and unfair competition issues, including interoperability concerns, in the consumer internet sector. It held meetings with executives from major Chinese tech companies and instructed them that their companies could no longer block external links to competitors.

Functions

The ministry is responsible for industrial development, policy, and standards. It also oversees industry operations monitoring, innovation, and information technology and approves fixed-asset investment projects in industry, communications, and information technology. It is the government body primarily responsible for supervising product standards.
In 2006, Human Rights Watch said that the ministry is responsible for overseeing technical implementation of the censorship in China.
MIIT delegates much of its legislative and standard setting work to the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology. The ministry is responsible for the current iteration of the Thousand Talents Plan called Qiming. MIIT has some regulatory overlap with the State Administration for Market Regulation. Although MIIT does not have authority to enforce the Anti-Monopoly Law like SAMR does, it uses its departmental guidelines to address unfair competition issues. All apps provided in app stores require pre-approval from the ministry since 2023.

Structure

According to the "Regulations on the Main Responsibilities of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, its Internal Organization and Staffing" and to the "Reply of the Office of the Central Institutional Establishment Committee on Matters Related to Further Clarifying the Main Responsibilities of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Local Communications Administration Bureaus", the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has the following internal organization. Names in parentheses are alternative nameplates or subunits

Internal functional offices

General Office
Industrial Policy and Legislation Department
Planning Department
Financial Department
Science and Technology Department
New Technologies Department
Operational Monitoring and Coordination Bureau
Medium and Small Enterprises Bureau
Energy Saving and Comprehensive Utilization Department
Production Safety Department （National Office of Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention — 国家履行《禁止化学武器公约》工作办公室）
Raw Materials Industry Department （Rare Earths Office — 稀土办公室）
Equipment Production First Department
Equipment Production Second Department 装备工业二司（National Heavy Machinery Office — 国家重大技术装备办公室）
Consumer Goods Industry Department
Civil-Military Fusion Promotion Department
Electronic Communications Department
Communications Engineering Development Department
Information and Communication Development Bureau
Information and Communication Management Bureau
Internet Safety Management Bureau
Radio and EMS Management Bureau （National Radio Office — 国家无线电办公室）
International Cooperation Department （Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Office — 港澳台办公室）
Personnel and Training Department
Party Committees （巡视工作办公室）
Retired Cadres Bureau
Internal Service Center

National bureaus managed by MIIT

State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense （Sub-ministerial level）
State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau （Sub-ministerial level）

External nameplates used by MIIT

China National Space Administration （Sub-ministerial level）
China Atomic Energy Authority

Regional units

Beijing Municipal Communications Administration
Shanghai Municipal Communications Administration
Tianjin Municipal Communications Administration
Chongqing Municipal Communications Administration
Hebei Provincial Communications Administration
Shanxi Provincial Communications Administration
Jilin Provincial Communications Administration
Liaoning Provincial Communications Administration
Heilongjiang Provincial Communications Administration
Shaanxi Provincial Communications Administration
Gansu Provincial Communications Administration
Qinghai Provincial Communications Administration
Shandong Provincial Communications Administration
Fujian Provincial Communications Administration
Zhejiang Provincial Communications Administration
Henan Provincial Communications Administration
Hubei Provincial Communications Administration
Hunan Provincial Communications Administration
Jiangxi Provincial Communications Administration
Jiangsu Provincial Communications Administration
Anhui Provincial Communications Administration
Guangdong Provincial Communications Administration
Hainan Provincial Communications Administration
Sichuan Provincial Communications Administration
Guizhou Provincial Communications Administration
Yunnan Provincial Communications Administration
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Communications Administration
Xinjiang Autonomous Region Communications Administration
Ningxia Autonomous Region Communications Administration
Guangxi Autonomous Region Communications Administration
Tibet Autonomous Region Communications Administration

Directly subordinate units

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology
China Center for Information Industry Development （MIIT Third Electronics Laboratory — 工业和信息化部电子第三研究所）
National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center （MIIT First Electronics Laboratory—工业和信息化部电子第一研究所）
China Electronics Industry Standardization Research Institute （MIIT Fourth Electronics Laboratory — 工业和信息化部电子第四研究院）
Electronic Product Reliability and Environmental Testing Laboratory （China Saibao Laboratory —中国赛宝实验室）
China Industry Internet Research Institute
State Radio Monitoring Center/State Radio Regulation of China
China National Tendering Center of Machinery & Electronic Equipment
China Internet Network Information Center
MIIT Information Center
China Center for the Promotion of SME Development
Torch Hi-Tech Industry Development Center
National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center
Industry Development Promotion Center
Equipment Industry Development Center
Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation （China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Electronics & Information Industry Sub-Council — 中国国际贸易促进委员会电子信息行业分会）
MIIT Talent Exchange Center
MIIT Education and Examination Center
Industrial Culture Development Center of MIIT
Communication Clearing Center
Weihai Electronics and Information Technology Comprehensive Research Center
China Software Testing Center （工业和信息化部软件与集成电路促进中心，中国电子信息产业发展研究院代管）

Directly Subordinate High-level Academic Institutions

Directly subordinate SOEs

China Industry and Information Technology Publishing and Media Group

Attached civil society associations

China Institute of Communications
Chinese Institute of Electronics
Internet Society of China

Subordinate units

The ministry administers the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau. The MIIT was historically responsible for the regulation and control of tobacco consumption, including the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a rather obvious case of conflict of interest. This task has since been reassigned to the National Health Commission as part of a large-scale government reform in 2018.
Under the arrangement one institution with two names, the MIIT reserves the external brands of the China National Space Administration and the China Atomic Energy Authority, although the level of control the ministry have over these two organizations is unclear. The MIIT oversees the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank that focuses on telecommunications and the digital economy. It also oversees seven universities, including top universities such as the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Beijing Institute of Technology, the Harbin Institute of Technology, and the Northwestern Polytechnical University. The MIIT also co-manages the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, used by the government to invest in semiconductor companies, together with the Ministry of Finance.