China Charts Sovereign Tech Future in New Five-Year Plan China is drafting a new five-year plan that places technological self-reliance at its core, a strategic move to shield the nation from foreign pressure and build sovereign capabilities in critical sectors. The policy blueprint, which will guide the next term of Chinese Communist Party leadership, is being discussed ahead of a key summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in South Korea. The central thrust of the proposal is to reduce China’s dependence on international tech giants and foster a self-sufficient science and technology ecosystem. This initiative specifically targets foundational fields like semiconductors and artificial intelligence, areas where Chinese industries currently rely on products from American companies such as Nvidia and OpenAI. Beyond core technology, the plan also aims to bolster domestic consumption. The goal is to rebalance the Chinese economy, making it less reliant on exports, a sector that has faced significant instability due to the fluctuating tariff policies of the Trump administration. This new five-year plan is largely an extension of the previous one established during Trump’s first term, which used technology investment as a pillar for post-pandemic economic recovery. The updated version continues to prioritize the expansion of China’s green energy sector, particularly its already massive wind and solar industries. It calls for an acceleration of the all-out green transformation of economic and social development. The plan emerges against a backdrop of ongoing trade and technology tensions between the US and China. Disputes have ranged from restrictions on the sale of advanced AI chips to controls on the export of critical resources like rare earth minerals. In this climate of strategic competition, the new five-year plan is widely seen as a direct response to these frictions. Its successful implementation would aim to position China to operate with greater autonomy, making its economy and tech sector less vulnerable to US policy shifts and more resilient in the long term.
