A five-year plan on China’s national informatization (2016-2020) was issued by the State Council on Dec 27.

According to the plan, China will put more resources into the development of cutting-edge information technology, including 5G wireless systems, IPv6, smart manufacturing, cloud computing and internet of things. The plan set a goal of authorizing 15.3 trillion patents in the information industry.

The goal is by 2020, BeiDou Navigation System, involving 35 satellites, will be completed and provide services for international clients.

More integrated national databases, covering information from government, academic institutions and other public sectors, will be set up and open to the public, so as to break information barriers.

A unified online system will be established, integrating information and services from different departments, regions and levels to build a “smart government”. The government hopes to deal with 80 percent of paperwork online by 2020.

More funds will be invested into information infrastructure, especially for rural and remote regions. By 2020, 40 percent rural families in central and western China will have access to cable internet. In addition, the speed of the internet will be accelerated and costs will be lowered.

The government hopes to connect the internet industry with manufacturing and agriculture. E-commerce and other new business models will be promoted. By 2020, e-commerce trade volume is planned to reach at least 38 trillion yuan.

The plan also focused on cyber security, promoting legislation of relative laws and regulations, setting up risk alerts and an emergency mechanism. It also vows to further crack down on telecom fraud.

China has made significant achievements in informatization, according to the document. But it also mentioned some shortcomings, including lagging innovation capability, core technology’s dependency on foreign companies, lagging information infrastructure in rural and poor regions, and the risk of a widening digital gap.