The government also highlighted its commitment to technology – an area it calls “new quality productive forces” – in the opening paragraphs of the main government work report presented by Premier Li Qiang. That was far more prominent than last year’s report.
China’s reliance thus far on US tech such as chips and planes has been a major source of frustration as trade tensions soared. Their tech war has seen both sides place export controls on some key products and resources – advanced chips most notably in the case of Washington and rare earths and critical minerals in the case of Beijing.
HUMANOID ROBOTS, 6G AND QUANTUM
The government work report and five-year blueprint outlined plans to increase investment in quantum computing, 6G, embodied AI – the tech that powers humanoid robots – and areas at the cutting-edge of science, like machine-brain interfaces.
The five-year plan also pledged to achieve “key breakthroughs in nuclear fusion technologies”, develop a reusable heavy-load rocket, construct an integrated space-earth quantum communication network, develop scalable quantum computers, and demonstrate the feasibility of building a lunar research station.
It also emphasised China’s goal to become a world leader in frontier R&D by “accelerating breakthroughs in basic theories and foundational technologies” and investing in basic research and cultivating a world-class talent base in science and tech.
The Chinese government also promised to build out “hyper-scale” computing clusters supported by cheap and abundant electricity and also support the building of AI open-source communities.
“Open source wasn’t mentioned in previous reports, and this is also a key difference between the Chinese and American AI approaches,” said Tilly Zhang, technology and industrial policy analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics.
“I believe China has studied this very carefully and decided to make open-source AI a flagship strategy and a competitive advantage against the United States.”
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