Chinese officials declare intention to become network superpower, tout glorious 5G rollout that's smaller than local carriers' claims Great Leap Forward sees broadband speeds surge, 99 per cent of villages hooked up, all for $6/month Laura Dobberstein Wed 21 Apr 2021 // 02:17 UTC Share Copy China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had a busy Monday as it declared the country's intention to be both a manufacturing and a network superpower, and claimed progress towards the latter goal is illustrated with some seemingly odd statistics. Liu Liehong, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told reporters that China's 13th Five-Year Plan, enacted in 2015, delivered a great leap forward in networking capabilities.