China’s new information and communications department was formally launched on Sunday.

The new agency, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), replaces the ten-year-old MII. It is headed by former oil industry executive Lin Yizhong.

The National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, voted in March to establish the new ministry as part of a shakeup of the bureaucracy.

The enlarged ministry will be responsible for developing all of China’s high-tech sectors, except for aerospace and other military-sensitive areas, as well as state-owned monopolies such as tobacco.

According to one official, senior leaders only received confirmation from State Council of its structure and formal establishment on Sunday, sina.com reported.

The MIIT’s role will be to draw up and implement industry plans, industry policy and standards, to monitor the daily operations of industry, to drive major technology projects, regulate the communications industry, to direct “informatization construction”, and to protect national information security.

Source:telecomasia