An arc welding robot is displayed at the World Robot Conference 2015 in Beijing, on Nov 24, 2015. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - China will strengthen policy support for high-tech manufacturing during the second half of the year, a senior official has said.

"The work of building the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse is moving from documents to implementation," vice minister of industry and information technology Feng Fei said on Monday afternoon.

Emerging sectors, smart manufacturing and communications are expected to see specific guidelines in the second half of the year, while official five-year industrial plans on software, big data and new materials will also be rolled out, he said.

Pilot projects will cover industrial Internet, manufacturing standards and aircraft engines.

China plans to earmark 5.2 billion yuan (nearly $780 million) from its central budget to improve manufacturing in 2016, up 50 percent from a year ago.