China announces steps to boost sales of cars, electronics

Chinese authorities announced a raft of measures on Friday to help boost sales of automobiles and electronics, and warned local governments from rolling out policies that would fuel vicious competition.

Regions will be encouraged to increase annual car purchase quotas and efforts will be made to support sales of second-hand vehicles, said the statement on automobile consumption published by 13 government agencies including the top economic planner National Development and Reform Commission.

"Localities must not roll out protectionist policies and avoid vicious competition," the statement said.

A separate statement on supporting sales of electronics products said authorities would encourage scientific research institutes and market entities to actively apply domestic artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve intelligence levels of electronic products.