For PRC industrial ‘mother machines’ to transition from mere scale to genuine strength, Beijing must integrate standards, pilot programs, finance, industrial clusters, and AI. This transformation also hinges on firms successfully developing CNC tech and other core components.
Under pressure of US disdain for multilateral trade norms—global trade is showing signs of breaking into blocs. Beijing is responding with unilateral moves, both opening and closing. It has rolled out a sanctions and export-control regime for ‘dual use’ goods and strategic tech, and passed trade laws with extraterritorial scope, learning from the US model. At the same time, under the slogan of ‘unilateral opening-up,’ it is making moves that expand Beijing’s circle of like-minded partners, including visa-free travel and lowering restrictions on foreign direct investment.
Education policy is embracing artificial intelligence (AI). Not a new watchword, ‘invigorate the country through science and technology’ is getting a serious AI inflection. A major spotlight at the March 2025 Two Sessions, Huai Jinpeng 怀进鹏 Minister of Education called for raising skills in ‘emerging and interdisciplinary’ fields.
The 14th 5-year plan will wrap up in 2025, claiming to have balanced ‘high-quality’ growth with state security concerns. The 15th plan is shaping up to focus on resolving friction between micro, industrial, and macro policy, more tightly coordinating different planning layers and instruments. As in the 14th plan, this focus is to link with longer-term 2035 targets
National Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme Overall Design Technical Group chief; Tsinghua University Institute of Energy, Environment and Economics director