"Those points resonate in 2025. China has become an important player in research and development (R&D). Yet, most of the outside world has still not woken up to this fact. On 23 October, China's Communist Party announced that, for the next five years, it will focus on "high-quality development" with "innovation as the fundamental driving force". This will require, it says, "substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength" (see go.nature.com/4ahcvj8). Policymakers should take this statement seriously for three reasons."
"But China knows that its technological dependence on the United States and others is a vulnerability, and that it needs to become autonomous. Second, it is not just words but hard cash that the Chinese government is committing to achieving its goals. The nation's R&D investments increased nearly sixfold between 2007 and 2023, overtaking the EU's and coming close to US figures (see go.nature.com/4a2xres). The latest plans indicate that this trend is set to continue."
China's Communist Party announced a five-year focus on high-quality development, naming innovation the fundamental driving force and calling for substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength. China views technological dependence as a vulnerability and seeks autonomy despite recent tariff and trade pauses with the United States. The government has backed its goals with major funding: national R&D investments rose nearly sixfold from 2007 to 2023, overtaking the EU and nearing US levels. China also possesses expanding human capital: in 2020 it produced about 3.6 million STEM graduates compared with 2.6 million in India and 820,000 in the United States.
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