The following official pronouncement lays out, in broad strokes, China’s approach to the development of standards. The document sets near-term (2025) and medium-term (2035) goals for standardization—both international and domestic—in China, and links standards-setting with virtually every aspect of Chinese society.

The Chinese source text is available online at: http://www.news.cn/politics/zywj/2021-10/10/c_1127943309.htm

An archived version of the Chinese source text is available online at: https://perma.cc/CB6V-VQDV

U.S. $1 ≈ 6.4 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB), as of November 8, 2021.

Standards are the technical support for economic activities and social development and are an important aspect of the country’s foundational systems. Standardization plays a fundamental and leading role in advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. In the new era, in order to spur high-quality development and comprehensively build China into a modernized socialist country in an all-round way, there is an urgent need to further strengthen standardization. This outline has been formulated for the purpose of promoting the uniform development of standardization

I. Overall Requirements

(i) Guiding ideology. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) thoroughly implemented the spirit of the 19th Party Congress and the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Plenums of the 19th CCP Central Committee, promoted the “five-in-one” overall layout, ¹ and coordinated the promotion of the “four comprehensivelys” strategic layout.² We must adhere to the people-centered (以人为中心) development philosophy, root ourselves firmly in the new stage of development (新发展阶段), implement the new development concept (新发展理念), construct the new development pattern (新发展格局), optimize the governance structure of standardization, enhance the governance effectiveness of standardization, and improve the level of internationalization of our standards. We must construct a standards system for promoting high-quality development, support high-tech innovation, spur high-level opening up to the outside, and lead high-quality development. We must do all of this in order to provide firm support for comprehensively establishing China as a modernized socialist world power³Translator’s note: This translation renders the Chinese word 强国 qiángguó—which literally means “strong nation”—in English in two different ways, depending on context. When qiángguó is used in the general geopolitical sense, it is translated “world power,” as in the phrase “socialist modernized world power” (社会主义现代化强国). When the Chinese text refers to a specific flavor of qiángguó, it is translated “powerhouse,” as in the phrase “S&T powerhouse” (科技强国). For a more thorough discussion in English of the Chinese word qiángguó, see: https://www.newamerica.org/cybersecurity-initiative/digichina/blog/lexicon-wangluo-qiangguo/[/enf_note] and to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

(ii) Development Goals

By 2025, China will have achieved a shift in the source of standards from being government-driven to being driven equally by the government and the market, and standards operations will shift their primary focus from being industry- and trade-driven to focusing on the economy and society as a whole. Standardization work will shift from being domestically driven to a model of mutual promotion between domestic and international interests. And finally, the development of standardization will shift from quantity and scale to a qualitative benefit model. Standardization will be more effective in promoting the country’s overall competitiveness, will promote high-quality economic and social development, and will play a greater role in constructing the new development pattern.

—— In-depth development of standardization in all fields. Standards in agriculture, industry, service industries, and social endeavors will all be covered. The standardization status of emerging industries will be prominently featured. Health, safety, and environmental standards will be strongly supported, and the popularization of standardized agricultural production will steadily increase. The standards system for promoting high-quality development will be basically complete.

—— Dramatically improve the level of standardization. The proportion of standardization research content in general purpose key technologies and applied science and technology (S&T) programs and projects will reach more than 50%. The government will further optimize the structure for the creation of standards and for the market’s independent establishment of standards, shortening the average period for the formulation of national standards to less than 18 months. The digitization of standards will have continuously improved, and the economic, social, quality, and ecological benefits from standardization will be fully realized.

—— Significantly enhance the degree of standardization and opening up. International cooperation on standardization will be further expanded, and international partnerships in standardization with mutually beneficial results will be strengthened. The exchange of standardization personnel and technical cooperation will also be strengthened, achieving interconnectedness and sharing of standardized information on a wider scale. The transparency of China’s standards formulation and the internationalization environment will be optimized. The degree of consistency between national standards and the key technical indicators of international standards will greatly improve, and the conversion rate of international standards will reach more than 85%.

—— Further solidification of the foundation for standardization and development. China will establish a number of world-class comprehensive and professional standardization research institutions, a number of national quality standards laboratories, and more than 50 national technological standards innovation bases, forming a national quality infrastructure system that integrates standards, metrology, certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing, fundamentally meeting the demands of economic and social development in the standardized service industry.

By 2035, the standardization system of structural optimization, advanced, reasonable, and internationally compatible standards will be more robust, and the standardization management system with Chinese characteristics will be more complete, fully forming a standardization work arrangement that is market-driven and government-guided, in which enterprises are the mainstay and society participates, and that is open and integrated.

For the rest of the translation, download the PDF below.

1. Translator’s note: The “five in one” (“五位一体”) refers to economic development, political development, cultural development, social development, and development of ecological civilization.
2. Translator’s note: The “four comprehensivelys” (“四个全面”) are: comprehensively establish a well-off society, comprehensively deepen reform, comprehensively govern the country according to law, and comprehensively govern the party strictly.