High-end equipment manufacturing, broadly speaking, symbolises a nation's core competitiveness, impacting both its economic and national defence security; more narrowly, it concerns the survival and development of numerous industries and enterprises. Wang Jinfu, General Manager of Chery Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., and other equipment manufacturing professionals recently stated in interviews that over the past decade, China's machinery industry has developed rapidly, establishing the nation as a veritable manufacturing powerhouse. However, it has yet to become a manufacturing superpower. To realise the dream of transitioning ‘from size to strength,’ China must enhance its independent innovation capabilities and accelerate the cultivation and advancement of its indigenous high-end equipment manufacturing sector.

　　Wang Jin-fu remarked: ‘When assessing the strength of a nation's machinery industry, several key indicators are scrutinised: whether it possesses core technologies with independent intellectual property rights; whether it demonstrates robust capabilities in major equipment engineering; whether it maintains a high market share in high-end equipment; and whether its mainstream technical equipment varieties and quality rank among the world's foremost. Essentially, it boils down to evaluating the development of the high-end equipment manufacturing sector.’

　　‘In recent years, driven by vigorous national efforts to stimulate domestic demand and multiple supportive policies, China's machinery and equipment manufacturing sector has achieved robust growth in scale,’ Wang Jin-fu noted. "However, the core competitiveness of China's domestic manufacturing brands remains generally weak. Overcapacity in the low-to-mid-end segments faces particularly fierce competition, while foreign brands firmly control the high-end segments of many industries. simultaneously, foreign brands have long maintained a stranglehold over critical components and core technologies."

Wang Ruixiang, President of the China Machinery Industry Federation, contends that while China has become a major global equipment manufacturing powerhouse, it remains undeniably ‘large but not strong.’ Particularly affected by the international financial crisis and European debt crisis, China's equipment manufacturing sector now faces a severe predicament of being blocked ahead and pursued from behind. Particularly in high-end equipment, developed nations such as the United States and the European Union have begun repatriating the production and processing of high-tech, high-value-added equipment from overseas back to their home markets. They have implemented numerous incentive policies, including tax breaks and subsidy rewards, to encourage investors and manufacturers to return.

　　Wang Ruixiang stated that the current harsh reality for China's equipment manufacturing sector remains reliant on imported advanced technologies and high-end products. High-end machine tools, high-end engines, high-end instruments and control systems all require foreign imports. Specifically, 90% of high-end CNC machine tools, 95% of CNC systems, and 70% of instruments and gauges are imported. In the field of fundamental components, 70% of the high-end functional parts required for high-end CNC machine tools must be imported. All hydraulic components exceeding 30MPa required for large-scale construction machinery are imported. Gearboxes for speeds exceeding 200 kilometres per hour, wind turbine gearboxes exceeding 2.5MW, large coal mining machinery gearboxes, high-speed train brakes, and electro-hydraulic drive units for large shield machines are almost entirely imported. Although China has established joint ventures and cooperative production with advanced foreign enterprises in marine diesel engines, the core technologies and brands remain under foreign control, leaving China still confined to a ‘contract manufacturing’ role.

Wang Ruixiang emphasised that for China's equipment manufacturing sector, the most critical task remains accelerating the development of independent R&D capabilities. The state must devise ways to provide policy support on one hand, while consolidating resources and organising technological breakthroughs on the other. ‘Currently, China's research institutes remain highly fragmented. Efforts should focus on consolidation and centralisation, with universities also considering how to participate. I am confident that by organising these various forces, China will gradually overcome technical bottlenecks, break the foreign monopoly in high-end equipment markets, and progressively establish a high-end equipment manufacturing sector. This sector will be led by advanced technologies, occupy the high end of the value chain and core segments of industrial chains, and enhance the core competitiveness of the entire industry.’

　　Ren Hongbin, Chairman of China National Machinery Industry Corporation Limited, stated that the high-end equipment manufacturing sector represents the concentrated manifestation of a nation's equipment manufacturing capabilities and serves as a crucial indicator of national strength. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have explicitly designated it as a strategic emerging industry to be accelerated and developed during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

To effectively leverage domestic market demand resources, accelerate the development of China's high-end equipment manufacturing sector, and advance the upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry, Ren Hongbin and others propose the following recommendations: First, leverage domestic market demand as leverage, operating according to market rules to compel developed nations to transfer technology to China, relax export controls on high-end equipment to China, and abandon import restrictions on China's mid-to-low-end products. Second, formulate procurement policies favourable to domestically innovated high-end equipment, stipulating that national key projects bear the obligation to serve as cornerstone projects for domesticating high-end equipment. During project equipment procurement tenders, domestic equipment must be prioritised. Foreign suppliers' quotations should be calculated based on their actual transaction prices in the Chinese market from 3 to 5 years prior.