Technology for the production of renewable energy, including wind power, has been listed as a priority of China's high-tech development.

Other priorities include the production of fuel cells, utilization of natural gas, technology for developing e-government and e-commerce, biomedicine engineering and equipment for the next generation of high-speed broadband network, according to the 2004 Guidelines on the Current Priorities in the Commercialization of High Technologies jointly issued by the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) and two other government departments recently.

Altogether, the guidelines listed 134 areas in 10 general sectors as priorities.

A SDRC official said the guidelines aim to guide investment to high-tech industries. It represents the government's efforts to promote development of high-tech industries and the upgrading of industrial structure.

It also shows the government applies different polices towards different sectors in macro-control. While it suppresses the growth of certain sectors, it is pushing forward the development of others, he said.

China has increased guidance and support to the development of high-tech industries since 1998, part of its program to readjust the economic structure. The scale of China's high-tech industries had reached 2,700 billion yuan (about USS$325.3 billion) by 2003, as compared with 1,090 billion yuan (about US$131.3 billion in 1999.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2004)