‘Made in China 2025’ all talk, no action and a waste of taxpayers’ money, says former finance minister Lou Jiwei
- China’s tech strategy was flawed from the start, according to the man who was finance minister from 2013 to 2016
- Government should not have chosen which industries to back and should trust the market, Lou says after ‘two sessions’ panel meeting
“Made in China 2025” has been a waste of taxpayers’ money, China’s former finance minister Lou Jiwei has said, as Beijing tones down its tech development strategy and nears reaching a trade deal with Washington.
“[Made in China] 2025 has been a lot of talking but very little was done,” Lou, chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, said on Wednesday on the sidelines of Beijing’s annual meeting of its policymaking bodies, or “two sessions”.
“There was no need to talk about the year 2025 in the first place,” he said. “[The government] wants industries to be at the top notch by then, but those industries are not predictable and the government should not have thought it had the ability to predict what is not foreseeable.”
Lou, who was finance minister from 2013 to 2016, was attending the meetings as a delegate of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body for Beijing’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress.
China’s plans to dominate hi-tech hit stumbling block
Lou made his comments after a panel meeting in which everyone else began their speech by stating their support and praise for Li’s work report.
When asked whether he thought it was a good move for Beijing to play down its tech strategy in Li’s report, Lou said: “It [the strategy] should not have been done that way anyway. I was against it from the start, I did not agree very much with it.
“The negative effect of [the plan] is to have wasted taxpayers’ money.”
He suggested the market should have played a greater role in developing the industries that MIC2025 was designed to push.
“The [resources] should have been allocated by the market; the government should give the market a decisive role,” Lou said. “Why has the government pushed so hard on this strategy? [Hi-tech industry prospects] can all change in a few years, it is too unforeseeable.”
The 68-year-old, who helped to shape China’s economic reforms that began in the 1980s before serving as finance minister, has been an outspoken figure since leaving the main policymaking arena and is generally regarded as a reformist.
When Washington introduced its first phase of tariffs on imported Chinese goods in July, it targeted 818 products central to MIC2025, focusing particularly on technological parts. The two countries are trying to reach a deal to end their trade dispute by the end of March.
Lou said he was optimistic that the US and China could come to an agreement.
“They should be able to make a deal,” he said. “China needs to go global – just make matters clear and all will be fine.”
