6G Photo: VCG

With "6G is coming" surging on Weibo's hot-search list on Tuesday, 6G has become one of the standout tech buzzwords during China's ongoing two sessions, after being written into this year's Government Work Report as an industry of the future to be cultivated, drawing intense discussion among lawmakers, political advisors and industry experts.

Yang Jie, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former chairman of China Mobile, told the Global Times that he believes that by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, 6G will see widespread application in China, bringing richer and more diverse digital services to people nationwide. He added that "the technology will be a shared achievement of humanity and will require joint efforts from countries around the world to establish unified global standards."

Miao Wei, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) and senior vice president of ZTE, also called for forward-looking planning of the 6G industry to build a competitive edge.

In a statement sent to the Global Times, Miao said that China achieved global leadership in the 5G era, while 6G development is entering "uncharted territory," making early prototype testing, standards research and spectrum planning essential. 

He added that innovation in artificial intelligence (AI)-agent terminal applications should drive smarter networks, with moderately advanced network deployment supporting future applications, new scenarios and markets, and helping secure a clear path for China to lead in 6G development.

Liu Wu, an NPC deputy, and engineer at the state key laboratory of Optical Communication Technology and Networks under the China Information and Communication Technologies Group, said that 6G's key breakthrough compared with previous generations will be the full integration of "space, air, ground and sea" networks, combining terrestrial, satellite, aerial and maritime communications while deeply integrating communication with sensing and AI, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

He said that the technology will support connectivity in remote areas, ocean exploration and disaster relief, while wireless signals could also monitor environments and detect vital signs, offering broad potential in areas such as autonomous driving, smart homes and health monitoring, Xinhua reported.

China will nurture industries of the future such as future energy, quantum technology, embodied AI, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G technology, according to the Government Work Report.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially announced that China had successfully completed the first phase of 6G technology trials, accumulating more than 300 key technologies for future use, and fully initiated the second phase of the trials, Xinhua reported.