China’s push to become a global leader in advanced technologies has its roots firmly in the Made in China 2025 program, according to China Policy managing editor Philippa Jones, a former diplomat and now policy analyst with two decades of experience living and working in China.
Speaking on the Commercial Disco podcast, Ms Jones said the program, launched in 2015, consolidated previously fragmented science funding and channeled resources into megaprojects targeting areas like chipmaking and robotics. The results have been startling.
“Beijing decided they had to bring it all together and direct where money was going, so that it was better targeted and they got more bang for their buck,” she said. “It was about setting boundaries and choosing megaprojects to become world-leading in”.
Since then, China has shifted toward more market-driven models, with the state encouraging IPOs and private capital to flow into strategic sectors. The Beijing Stock Exchange was set up to support not-yet-profitable IPOs, reflecting a deliberate move to broaden the funding base.
“They’ve realised putting government money in is not always the best thing to do,” Ms Jones said. “It’s more and more moving to an IPO-based system, opening up funding sources beyond the state”.
With the next Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) due in March, she said industries should expect highly detailed guidance beyond the initial headlines. “In the last five-year plan, over the following six to eight months, another 200 plans came down. It goes into the really nitty-gritty detail,” she said.
Beijing’s innovation focus consistently ties advanced technologies back to industrial outcomes. “When we’re talking about AI, Beijing is talking about how AI can be used in industry. When we’re talking about robotics, it’s about industry. When you’re talking about quantum computing, it’s about industry,” she said.
China also faces the same workforce disruptions from AI adoption as other economies. Ms Jones said Beijing is openly debating universal basic income as one response, with some proposals suggesting displaced workers would receive support until the age of 35.
“Their social contract is so bound up in industrial development and jobs for all. That’s probably falling apart a little these days, so they’re exploring UBI as a way to cushion the transition,” she said.
On trade tensions, Ms Jones said Beijing takes US tariffs seriously but benefits from political resilience that Western democracies cannot easily match. “Our politics depend on our economy. In China, the politics stay and the economy might wobble, but Beijing stays in place,” she said.
She added that the recent “DeepSeek moment” – a domestic AI breakthrough – helped restore Beijing’s confidence in its technology ambitions. “They felt a little bit behind the Americans, and then suddenly DeepSeek happened and they’ve got their confidence back,” she said.
That confidence has fed into a surge of new listings on the Beijing Stock Exchange, reinforcing Beijing’s strategy of integrating science and technology into the capital markets. Ms Jones said this steady, incremental approach has long defined China’s planning.
“It’s slow and steady in China. We talked about the five-year plan. You will see slow and steady increments as they come up to the plan, and then of course for the next five years,” she said.
Looking at Australia’s position in the global technology race, Ms Jones argued that the country should focus on areas of comparative advantage such as critical minerals, processing, and energy, rather than chasing high-cost semiconductor fabrication.
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