China needs to use tariff policy as a key macro economic tool, Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Zhigang has said.

"Tariff policies must be used to stimulate the transformation of the economic growth model and restructure industry," Zhu said at a national conference on tariff policy over the weekend.

Tariffs can play a bigger role in enforcing major policies such as reducing the consumption of energy and raw materials, encouraging innovation and building the "new socialist countryside", he was quoted as saying by Monday's China Securities Journal.

The deputy minister said lower tariffs should be used to encourage imports of energy and mineral resource products, while exports of products that are energy-intensive, consume large quantities of mineral resources or generate pollution should be discouraged by higher export tariffs.

New tariff policies should be put into place to encourage research and development into alternative energies by Chinese enterprises, and to support scientific research and innovation in critical technologies, he said.

Tariff policies must also be fine-tuned to improve the quality of foreign investment in China and to encourage the import of sophisticated technologies, Zhu said.

Editor: Yan