China’s ambitious “Made in China 2025” industrial strategy has put the country on track to become a global leader in smart manufacturing within the next few years, though breakthroughs are still needed in several bottleneck technologies, according to a new report by Beijing’s Renmin University of China.
The Made in China 2025 project, launched a decade ago, aimed to propel China to the forefront of a slew of hi-tech industries, including aerospace, electric cars, robotics and telecommunications.
Though Beijing has become reluctant to publicly name-check the policy in recent years amid global pushback – especially from the United States – the strategy nevertheless helped China achieve remarkable progress in several key areas, said Wang Wen, dean of Renmin University’s Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies.
For Wang, the Chinese government should stick to its guns by continuing to build on its manufacturing strengths while advancing independent technological innovation. If it does so, the future looks bright, he said.
