BEIJING, July 21 (TMTPost)— China is intensifying economic stimulus with a new round of measures targeting automobile and electronics, including the proposal for acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) application in electronics.

Credit：Visual China

Seven Chinese government agencies including the state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), released a host of measures to boost electronics consumption on Friday. The first measure the official document proposed is to accelerate innovation of electronics offerings. It said authorities would encourage scientific research institutes and market entities to actively apply domestic AI technology to improve intelligence levels of electronic product and make the human-computer interaction more convenient. The document called for the industry to leverage next-generation information technologies to improve innovation capability of electronics products and foster new sources for growth of electronics consumption.

Businesses are encouraged to create new business forms and promote application for electronics in various scenarios such as home security, smart kitchen, intelligent sleep tech, healthy bathroom, and air purification, according to the document. It vowed to continue the promotion of spending on home appliances in rural areas, and expanding usage of green energy for heating in these areas in an orderly manner to increase the rural electrification and renewable energy’s share in rural consumption. Authorities will support promotion of green home appliances like eco-friendly stoves, air-source heat pumps, wall-hung gas boilers, solar water heaters, and home energy storage devices.

The document asked for better personal data protection. It said authorities would step up improvement of laws and regulations governing personal information protection, strengthen implementation of information protection policies for mobile phones, smart homes, wearable devices and other electronic products, speed up the formulation of policies and industry standards for data desensitization and usage compliance, and crack down on companies' improper use of personal information in accordance with the law.

In another slew of measures introduced by thirteen government agencies authorities including (NDRC) the same day, the public sector was required to increase purchase for new energy vehicles (NEVs), including the battery electric vehicle (BEV) and the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The document said authorities would support purchase of NEVs or replacement with NEVs for public works, public transport, rental, postal services, sanitation, gardens and other fields in the public sector. Authorities will accelerate market cultivation for second-hand vehicles and reinforce the construction of supporting facilities for new energy vehicles.

The official document suggested loosening the vehicle purchase curbs for private use to reduce pollution and traffic congestion. Local governments of regions under vehicle purchase restrictions are encouraged to assign purchase quotas for the whole year as soon as possible, and implement differentiated policies for urban and suburban to increase annual quotas based on local conditions.

The document called for stronger financial services for automobile consumption. Authorities will provide stronger credit support for auto consumption, and encourage financial institutions to reasonably determine the down payment, interest rate, and repayment period of auto loan if they adhere to relevant laws and regulations and the risks are controllable.

The document made it clear the support for promotions in auto industry hosted by the industry associations, chambers of commerce, automobile companies or financial institutions. It said that local government shall “avoid vicious competition” and not roll out protectionist policies, while maintaining the industry order and fostering a market environment with friendly policies for automobile consumption.

The document sent a new positive signal to NEV sector following a tax waive last month. New energy passenger vehicles will continue to enjoy exemption from purchase tax from 2024 through the end of 2025, the Ministry of Finance, the State Taxation Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China announced a month ago. Any NEV purchased between 2014 and 2015 will be exempt from vehicle purchase tax amounting to as much as RMB 30,000, and the vehicle purchase tax purchase for any NEV bought between 2026 and 2027 will be reduced by half, which means to be subject to a tax rate of 5%. with a reduction cap of RMB15,000.

The tax break extension is expected to bring a total of tax exemption and reduction amounting to RMB520 billion from 2024 to 2027, Xu Hongcai, the Vice Minister of Finance, citing the preliminary estimates. Xu said the tax relief was offered to bolster domestic consumption, and the cap of exemption or reduction can avoid too much consumers’ usage of tax relief on luxury cars.  

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