Beijing wants to level up China’s software industry, with an emphasis on FOSS

China’s software industry is underperforming internationally and needs to lean into open source technology to improve, the nation’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday. “Software is the soul of a new generation of information technology, the foundation of digital economic development, and the key support for the construction of manufacturing power, network power and digital China,” according to a (machine-translated) announcement from the Ministry.