The formalized industrialization component of the grand ambition, now well under way: including the Belt and Road initiative, the String of Pearls, commodities of Africa, fossil fuels and trade route of the South China Sea.
From Scott Kennedy (Made In China 2025, CSIS), 2015.
“Made in China 2025” has clear principles, goals, tools, and sector focus.
- Its guiding principles are to have manufacturing be innovation-driven, emphasize quality over quantity, achieve green development, optimize the structure of Chinese industry, and nurture human talent.
- The goal is to comprehensively upgrade Chinese industry, making it more efficient and integrated so that it can occupy the highest parts of global production chains. The plan identifies the goal of raising domestic content of core components and materials to 40% by 2020 and 70% by 2025.
- Although there is a significant role for the state in providing an overall framework, utilizing financial and fiscal tools, and supporting the creation of manufacturing innovation centers (15 by 2020 and 40 by 2025), the plan also calls for relying on market institutions, strengthening intellectual property rights protection for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the more effective use of intellectual property (IP) in business strategy, and allowing firms to self-declare their own technology standards and help them better participate in international standards setting.
- Although the goal is to upgrade industry writ large, the plan highlights 10 priority sectors:
- 1) New advanced information technology;
- 2) Automated machine tools & robotics;
- 3) Aerospace and aeronautical equipment;
- 4) Maritime equipment and high-tech shipping;
- 5) Modern rail transport equipment;
- 6) New-energy vehicles and equipment;
- 7) Power equipment;
- 8) Agricultural equipment;
- 9) New materials; and
- 10) Biopharma and advanced medical products.