The annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are held each March and set the course for the country’s development in the coming year. Known as the Two Sessions, or lianghui, their decisions directly affect the lives of every Chinese person, as well as the global economy.

2025 is the final year for two large-scale programs: “Made in China 2025” and the 14th Five-Year Plan?(2021-25). This is the final year for assessing achievements in industrial modernization, technological breakthroughs and sustainable development under these programs. Therefore, this year’s events not only summarized the results of development but also set new goals for the future.?

During last year’s March session of the NPC, which outlined China’s economic priorities, the term?“new-quality?productive forces”?was identified as the country’s top priority for 2024. This new terminology reflects the increasing desire of China’s leaders to accelerate the growth of high technologies, representing breakthrough innovations that will propel the nation to the forefront of the global technology race. Achieving this necessitates high-quality research and a thriving innovation environment within the country’s businesses.

Just as Britain surpassed the rest of the world during the first industrial revolution and the U.S.?emerged as an industrial leader by introducing electricity, mass production and computers, China strives to outpace the rest of the world in the latest digital and green technologies.

Electric vehicles, solar panels and advanced batteries are all examples of rapidly expanding sectors in which China has achieved both technological leadership and supply-chain dominance. It has realized its objectives through distinctive public-private collaborations supported by rapidly increasing public and private research and development (R&D) expenditures. Directing these efforts towards emerging areas enhances the likelihood of gaining an advantage.?

This strategy also positions China to swiftly establish technical standards for new technologies and influence global governance. Beijing’s priorities further this aim by creating artificial intelligence?(AI)?hubs and green technology agreements in the Global South, often without significant competition from others, thus positioning Chinese technologies as the preferred choice.

In August 2024, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released its Critical Technology Tracker, which monitors research advancements across 64 critical and emerging technology sectors. The findings revealed that China currently leads the world in 57 of 64 essential technologies. The gap is so substantial in certain areas that it can already be considered a technological monopoly. For example, in battery research, ASPI data shows that China publishes 65.5 percent of all peer-reviewed papers on the subject, while the U.S. comes in second, publishing only 11.9 percent.

In merely 15 years, there has been a complete transformation in global technological leadership unprecedented in history. Between 2003 and 2007, China led in just three categories, while the U.S. dominated in 60 of these 64. However, by 2024, the U.S. had maintained its leadership in only seven categories. Only India and?the Republic of?Korea rank in the top two in any field besides these nations.?

Earlier this year, a groundbreaking model from the Chinese AI company DeepSeek sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling as it became apparent that it could rival the performance of Western models like ChatGPT but at a fraction of the cost. The latest platform has spurred investor speculation about AI’s potential to enhance China’s entire tech sector, leading to calls for an upward revaluation of Chinese assets. The Hang Seng Tech Index, which measures the 30 most prominent tech companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, has risen by 35 percent since the beginning of the year.

China’s R&D expenditure has grown steadily, reaching 3.6 trillion yuan ($497 billion) in 2024, representing an 8.3 percent yearly increase. Investment in basic research rose by 10.5 percent from 2023, amounting to 249.7 billion yuan ($34.4 billion) in 2024, or 6.91 percent of total R&D spending. R&D intensity—an indicator of a country’s strength in science and technology, innovation capability and competitiveness, calculated as a ratio of expenditure to GDP—remained stable at 2.68 per cent last year, placing China 12th among the world’s major economies, surpassing the EU average of 2.11 percent and nearing the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 2.73 percent. However, its main competitor, the U.S., had a significantly higher figure at 3.5 percent.

An analysis of recent technological breakthroughs and successes across various societies clearly illustrates the vital role of national governments in planning and developing their scientific and technological capabilities. Scientific and technological leadership necessitates the continuous search for and training of talent, starting from secondary education, as well as the accumulation of knowledge, substantial investment in developing innovative skills, and the establishment of advanced scientific institutions. These elements cannot be realized solely through short-term investments or well-funded and efficient private enterprises. A study of the performance of various countries in the high-tech sector reveals how China’s long-term strategic planning and extensive investment have begun to yield remarkable results.

The Chinese strategic planning system’s distinctive characteristic and undeniable advantage is its long-term perspective. Defining the strategic directions for the development of human civilization and future technological breakthroughs is vital for the success of any endeavor. This must be accompanied by continuous investment in priority scientific and technological sectors. Naturally, achieving success necessitates a comprehensive approach that includes sustainable policies for training qualified personnel, industrial reform, incentives to promote innovation, the availability of production capacity and the commercialization of new products. All these components are present in the Chinese model of innovative development; thus, humanity will soon witness the country’s leadership in an increasing number of areas of development.

The author is former prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, a distinguished professor of the Belt and Road School at Beijing Normal University and author of the book Central Asia’s Economic Rebirth in the Shadow of the New Great Game.