Foreign firms may be invited to join ‘Made in China 2025’ scheme, sources say
Beijing could adjust plan to dial down trade tensions with Washington but it won’t budge on goal of becoming a tech superpower, according to sources
China may invite foreign companies to take part in its state-funded technology development programme as a way to deflect criticism of its nationalistic industrial policies, according to sources.
But Beijing will not give up its “Made in China 2025” strategy to support its domestic technology sector, even if it risks a trade war with the US, because it is a core part of President Xi Jinping’s economic policy, they say.
That strategy has been singled out by Washington as a prime example of Beijing’s “unfair trade practices”, saying it is using preferential policies to unfairly boost Chinese firms. The plan aims to achieve “self-sufficiency” in the country’s hi-tech industries and turn China into a manufacturing superpower to directly compete with Western economies.
But amid rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, Beijing could consider making some adjustments to the plan.
“Without cooperation and support from foreign countries on technology, it will be impossible for China to achieve its 2025 targets,” a source familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post. “So China will have to address [Washington’s] concerns.”