Continuity of purpose

Scientific and technological self-reliance and strength have been enhanced in the 14th Five-Year Plan, and these will be further pursued in the next five years

DeepSeek, advanced and sophisticated electric vehicles, and the fourth-generation nuclear power plants are some of the products we can select as the stellar examples of the outstanding achievements during China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

All are a testament to China's technological boom and productivity growth, and each exemplifies China's unique combination of national strategic direction enabled by individual innovation and coordinated cooperation. China's experience shows that establishing and implementing a national strategic direction can reduce wasted and misdirected economic efforts. This is an alternative model that provides hope for economic development in the Global South.

Five years ago, China endeavored to transition from "made in China" to "created in China". Many assumed that this applied only to physical products. However, these assumptions missed the importance of innovation and the growth of the technical and digital economy.

China talked about the new quality productive forces at a time when these forces were barely mentioned in Western economies. The 14th Five-Year Plan fused the manufacture of physical goods with advanced technological innovation in a way that exceeded imagination. Western manufacturers struggled to catch up. Digital innovation enhanced productivity by increasing service efficiency.

China's sophisticated electric vehicle advances are coupled with battery innovations that are the result of coordinated and concentrated economic effort and development. This is economic planning, not a planned economy. Economic planning in the 14th Five-Year Plan set the strategic direction but left it to industry to determine the way those objectives would be achieved.

Likewise, DeepSeek and other advances in AI applications across multiple fields are not the result of random economic activity. This is the economy serving the carefully identified needs of the people. This is an economic development process also suited to some needs of the Global South.

This process operates on three pillars: building consensus on national goals through political guidance and scientific planning; breaking down goals into actionable tasks with evaluation and supervision; and ensuring effective resource allocation to support these objectives.

The 14th Five-Year Plan was the start of a considered move toward a more sophisticated, broad-based economy that rests on innovation and technical developments. Advances in robotics and AI have provided solutions to increasing productivity in an environment where population changes are an important factor.

Productivity growth comes from digital efficiency. It may seem a small thing, but it has changed the financial payment system. The benefits of digital payment to society go well beyond its convenience.

This digital technology is bringing prosperity to China's remote regions. It also provides a road map to be used by other Global South countries to develop their own digital payment systems. These productivity gains are embedded in many aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative.

An integral part of the 14th Five-Year Plan was expressed in the policy concept of a dual-circulation paradigm, a pattern of development that focuses on the domestic economy, but also stresses a positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows. It involves reducing dependency on exports as one primary contributor to economic growth, and calling for an increase in foreign investment through liberalized investment rules.

The objective was to stay globally connected while building resilience against external pressures. This has become more pressing during Donald Trump's second presidency. The United States' protectionist tariff policy has accelerated China's push for self-reliance and diversified supply chains. Stronger ties across Asia, the Middle East and Africa have been formed with China's leadership in green and digital technology. The achievements of the 14th Five-Year Plan delivered confidence for China to further define its own model and not follow the US model. Other Global South countries have also noted this confidence and engaged with China so they can also select those elements most compatible with their stage of economic development and ambitions.

The efforts made during the 14th Five-Year Plan period to enhance scientific and technological self-reliance and strength will be continued in the next five years. The pursuit of a high-quality economy for smarter, greener and more integrated development calls for advancing original innovation in key fields.

Successful progress in the past four to five years also includes safeguarding the multilateral trading system by promoting innovative trade development, which embraces the Global South. Essential to this objective in the next five years may be broadening the scope for two-way investment cooperation, and advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) is a work in progress that is set to build on the remarkable achievements of the 14th Five-Year Plan to upgrade economic activities and increase productivity. Support for new quality productive forces puts China at the cutting edge of computing and AI. DeepSeek is just the beginning.

The author is an international financial technical analysis expert and a former national board member at the Australia China Business Council. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.