Beijing tries to play down ‘Made in China 2025’ as Donald Trump escalates trade hostilities
State media agencies ordered to avoid mentioning the industrial modernisation plan as US president makes it a focus of looming trade war
Beijing is attempting to play down “Made in China 2025” by ordering state media to minimise their coverage of the industrial modernisation programme, as US President Donald Trump makes it a focus of his trade battle with China.
Three separate mainland media sources briefed about the directive told the South China Morning Post that the government has instructed Chinese state media agencies to avoid mentioning Made in China 2025 in their reports.
A reporter with a state-owned newspaper told the Post that an official affiliated with the Communist Youth League in Beijing recently made him aware of the demand.
Another source traced the clampdown back to early May, when an American delegation headed by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin flew to Beijing to begin trade negotiations with a Chinese team led by Vice-Premier Liu He.
The sources declined to be named because instructions from Chinese censors are often regarded as confidential information.
At a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, there was no mention of Made in China 2025 by officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology – even though their focus was a hi-tech “smart industry” exhibition in Chongqing.