Relax, America: state policies like ‘Made in China 2025’ aren’t drivers of China’s progress in technology

Washington’s aggressive trade offensives against Beijing are, to a large extent, prompted by the fear that China is emerging as a serious rival to the United States in tech supremacy. American critics accuse China of a long list of misconduct, ranging from intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers via joint ventures to state subsidies of Chinese tech firms.

“Made in China 2025”, a policy paper unveiled by China’s State Council in 2015, has stoked most of the anger and fear among the Washington hawks.

In truth, Made in China 2025 is a sensible document spelling out the country’s policy goals. The Chinese government candidly admits that, despite the size of China’s manufacturing sector, it suffers from a host of problems such as a lack of protection of intellectual property rights, scarcity of global brand names, weak innovation capabilities and dire environmental consequences of the country's low-end industries.

The government aims to correct such deficiencies in the coming years and build an advanced manufacturing economy through significant investment in research and development. China has identified clean tech, 3D printing, robotics, the internet of things and artificial intelligence as “strategic”, and aspires to be a global leader in these emerging fields.