From 30 June to 4 July 2025, a group of ETSI delegation, Mr. Jan Ellsberger, Director General of ETSI, Mr. Ultan Mulligan, Chief Services Officer, Dr. Issam Toufik, Chief Technology Officer and Mr. Igor Minaev, Head of External Relations, visited ETSI’s Chinese partners and other key stakeholders in Beijing, Tianjin and Shenzhen.
China has become an increasingly influential and ambitious player in the field of international ICT standardization, making strong partnerships with Chinese partners a top priority for ETSI. To deepen ties and explore further collaboration, Mr. Jan Ellsberger and his team, accompanied by Dr. Betty Xu, Director of SESEC, undertook this visit to engage and collaborate with Chinese counterparts, experts and government officials who are involved in the ICT-related standardization work.
From 30 June to 2 July in Beijing, Mr. Jan Ellsberger and the delegation met government officials from the National Standardization Administration of China (SAC), and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), as well as experts from China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) and China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI). ETSI and Chinese side exchanged updates on their recent activities in ICT standardization. ETSI also shared their efforts in supporting EU policies and regulations via standardization. Both sides expressed sincere appreciation for the long-standing cooperation and a shared commitment to expanding collaboration into emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and data. Several new cooperation opportunities were identified for follow-up discussion.
ETSI delegation also met Chinese members and potential members in Beijing including OPPO and Xiaomi. Representatives of European companies in European Chamber of Commerce in China, officers of EU Delegation in Beijing shared their insights on EU-China ICT standardization collaboration with ETSI delegation as well.
On 2 July in Tianjin, the ETSI delegation visited the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC). Both sides held a productive discussion on reconfiguring their collaboration around emerging technologies such as Intelligent Transportation, Autonomous driving and Interconnected Cars. Later, CATARC hosted the delegation for a guided tour of its laboratories and test sites, offering detailed insights into its research and testing practices.
From 3 July to 4 July in Shenzhen, the ETSI delegation visited Shenzhen Administration for Market Regulation (Shenzhen SAMR), Shenzhen Institute of Standards and Technology (SIST), as well as the Hetao International Standardization Headquarters. During the visit at Hetao Headquarters, the ETSI delegation met local standardization organizations including the UHD World Association (UWA), the international Spark Link Association(iSLA) and Comentropy Industry and Standards Innovation Service Center. These meetings enabled in-depth exchanges on the progress of standardization efforts in South China and explored potential cooperation in cutting-edge areas such as ultra-high definition and short-range communication.
This is the first comprehensive visit of the ETSI leadership team in China since the new ETSI Director General got on board in July 2024. In 5 working days, ETSI delegation had totally 15 meetings, which enriched the ETSI’s perspectives on China ICT standardization. The information and insights collected during these meetings will be of great help for ETSI on setting up its future China strategies.
