China will reduce the government's micro management and direct intervention in its vast industrial sector, the industry minister said on Monday.

The general manufacturing industry will be fully liberalized and the government's next move is to implement policies such as tax reductions and to improve the protection of intellectual property rights, Mao Wei, who heads the Ministry of Industry and Informational Technology, said at the China Development Forum.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Shu Zhang; Editing by Kim Coghill) ((yifan.qiu@thomsonreuters.com; 86-10-66271289;))