China hopes more countries and people will benefit from the opportunities its scientific and technological innovation achievements create, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
She made the remarks in response to a media query about China's efforts to protect intellectual property (IP) and promote scientific and technological innovation.
"Speaking of scientific and technological innovation, during the Spring Festival, I was most impressed by the robots’ performance at the Spring Festival Gala and videos generated by Seedance 2.0 for new year greetings. Innovation is transforming our everyday life, making it easier and creating joyful surprises," said Mao.
"Scientific and technological innovation provides a strong driving force for China’s high-quality development and is an important pillar of Chinese modernization. The recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan vowed to raise China’s innovation capacity across the board and set substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength as one of the major objectives for economic and social development. China believes that scientific and technological innovation must always be for the people, for good and for all and it should be about narrowing the technology gap. China will stay committed to openness and promoting international exchange and cooperation. We hope that more countries and people will benefit from the opportunities created by China’s innovation," she said.
China has become the first country to amass over five million valid domestic invention patents, and its international patent applications submitted via the Patent Cooperation Treaty have led globally for six consecutive years, according to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the country's top IP regulator.
Spokeswoman on China's sci-tech innovation achievements
The nine mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) recorded a total import and export value of 9.15 trillion yuan (about 1.34 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, a surge of 35.2 percent compared with that in 2020, the final year of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), according to data from the Guangdong branch of the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC).
In 2025, exports from the nine mainland cities reached 5.83 trillion yuan, marking a 41.1 percent increase from 2020.
Exports of the "new trio" -- electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products -- saw particularly rapid growth. Their combined export value totaled 200.56 billion yuan in 2025, a dramatic surge of 311.3 percent compared with that in 2020. Their share of total exports rose by 2.3 percentage points to 3.4 percent.
Exports of goods from independent brands also posted strong growth, reaching 1.38 trillion yuan in 2025, up 79.2 percent from 2020. Their share of total exports increased by 5 percentage points to 23.7 percent.
Meanwhile, imports by the nine mainland cities reached 3.32 trillion yuan in 2025, an increase of 25.9 percent compared with 2020.
Among them, imports of key production materials and equipment for the electronics industry -- including integrated circuits, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and computers and their parts -- surged dramatically by 46.8 percent, 287.5 percent, and 177.2 percent, respectively.
Imports of daily necessities also posted steady gains. Compared with those in 2020, agricultural imports rose by 32.2 percent, while pharmaceutical imports increased by 14 percent.
The GBA consists of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR), as well as nine cities in Guangdong Province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing.
Foreign trade of nine GBA mainland cities surges during 2021-25 period
