China Needs to Modernize Older Sectors, Not Scrap Them: Minister

China should upgrade “outdated” industries and not scrap them because manufacturing remains the backbone of the economy, according to the Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng.

The traditional sectors should be modernized with technology rather than phased out, and should not be viewed as “low-end” by default, Li wrote in an article to be published in the Communist Party journal Qiushi on Monday.