China doesn’t want to catch up with the US in tech. It aims to lead

Hong Kong
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In an era marked by US overseas military actions and trade turbulence, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is counting on a plan to shield his country from the storm: driving innovation to transform China into the world’s leading tech superpower.

Over the next five years, China seeks to upgrade its already powerful industrial sector, strengthen tech “self-sufficiency” and incubate sectors that will help accelerate the country’s tech supremacy, from artificial intelligence and robotics to aerospace and quantum computing.

“For the first time, China wants to lead in a number of technologies. Previously, the focus was always catching up with the West,” said Dan Wang, China director at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

Details of Xi’s gambit for the future were approved on Thursday by China’s rubber-stamp legislature in Beijing as the week-long annual assembly drew to a close. The policy document, known as the Five-Year Plan, has been hashed out behind closed doors by Xi’s inner circle for months and serves as a North Star for the country’s development into the next half-decade.

“Strive to achieve new breakthroughs in advancing original innovation, tackling key core technologies, and seizing the strategic high ground in science and technology,” Xi told local officials in a meeting discussing the new plan last week.

As China’s economy contends with deep-rooted structural challenges, including a persistent real estate crisis and low consumer confidence, Xi is zeroing in on bolstering its tech sector, betting proactively on emerging technologies to power the country’s growth in the decades ahead. Last week, China set its lowest-ever economic growth target since it began adopting such figures.

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