During the annual Chinese legislative meeting, the national leader XI Jinping made it clear that he did not want to keep his plans for China to pass by his rivals by becoming a technological superpower. Not economic slowdown or a heavy debt of local government, nor a commercial war with the United States.
A meeting in Beijing, called the National National Congress, was once a phase for the leaders of the Communist Party to present public counseling. Congress delegates, although the party handed them over, sometimes compacted officials through problems like pollution. There were even rare flashes a disagreement among senior officials.
Mr. XI, however, turned the meeting into a carefully orchestrated, weekly greeting for himself and his vision. This time, he invited China to progress in advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and new weapons.
“Xi saw that decades of investment in science by US government after World War II were success in the United States and wants to repeat it,” he said Jimmy GoodrichWHO studies Chinese scientific policies as a senior advisor in Randa, an organization that provides analysis to the US government and other clients.
“He strongly believes that only by being a more self -sufficient and global leader in science can he achieve success in the upgrade of his economy, increasing his military skills and achieving the status of world leaders,” said Mr. Goodrich.
The implicit message of Mr. Xia is that other efforts are like renewal The trust of Chinese private entrepreneurs,, It must be aligned with that greater national goal.
The annual Congress allows Mr. XI to give its priorities a glow of public approval. The deployment of votes of nearly 3000 delegates has become extremely rare.
Mr. Xia’s agenda told the story. On the first day of Congress, Mr. XI met with delegates From the Jiangsu Province – industrial power plants – and told them that they were “caught by scientific and technological innovations.” Delegates are shown on state television diligently writing their comments.
The second day, Mr. XI heard reports of scientists and educational officers and emphasized the role of education in the construction of China into “Scientific and Technology of Great Force.”
On the third day, Mr. XI dressed his green military uniform to get to know members of the People’s Liberation Army. He demanded that the Chinese army Become more effective in implementing modernization plans, vaccination exploitation, and also more in the application of advanced technologies to “accelerate the development of qualitatively new combat abilities.”
The public summary of his comments did not give details, but the Chinese army works on the next generation jets, unmanned drones, new submarines and other weapons.
Mr. Xija’s priorities also reflected on Chinese annual budgetWhich projects will increase government consumption of science and technology this year by 8.3 percent, to 6.1 percent education and 7.2 percent on the army. The government has set a more modest increase of about 5 percent in consumption for health care and social care.
The Budget of the Science and Technology of Chinese Government this year is about $ 172 billion, the second in the United States. But Government cuts Under Mr. Trump, he could narrow the leadership of the US. Including company investments, the United States spent $ 806 billion on research and development of 2021, compared to $ 668 billion in China, according to estimation last year from the US National Science Foundation.
“In the last six or seven years of the US-kine strategic competition, the two most important questions have been geopolitics and technology,” he said Wang Hsin-HsienProfessor at the University of National Chengchi in Taipei who studies Chinese politics. “In China, they probably see that there may be a little less pressure on them geopolitically, but there will be no relief of Trump on the technology front.”
Some critics argued that the betting of Mr. Xia on futuristic goals comes at the cost of providing assistance to Chinese citizens who struggle to make ends meet. The economy is still pierced under a large fall in apartments. The number of pensioners increases and the birth rate has decreased. Still, Mr. XI seems persistent that China can overcome their problems by leaking consumption on technological projects and upgrading the industry.
So far, Mr. Xi has not indicated a willingness to catch in the Chinese export urge after Mr Trump has imposed additional tariffs to goods from China.
Neither does Mr. Xi seem concerned about any threat to his political domination. After more than 12 years in power, he gave No sign of choosing a heir. Retired leaders who once could get into his strength were mostly passed away. He never straightened his solid grip on key levers, like the Ministry of State Security, he said Jonathan CzinBrookings institution researcher who earlier worked at the Central Intelligence Agency and Study Study Chinese politics.
“So far, I see zero evidence of meaningful cracks in Xi’s control. Who at this point would have had the courage to cause XI?” Said Mr. Czin. “He has an anti -corruption apparatus like Cudgel, ready for the flash of any potential opponent.”
