China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) unveiled an ambitious five-year plan (2021-25) for national key projects focused on fundamental and frontier sciences, urging major breakthroughs in core technologies, especially those related to national security and essential competitiveness amid the China-U.S. tech war and possible decoupling. The new development plan includes new domains such as information technology (IT) and space technology, urging China’s science and technology sector to make major breakthroughs. The Chinese tech industry experienced a rough 2019, as the trade war between China and the U.S. has been evolving into a tech war, with Washington escalating its crackdown on Chinese technology. Most recently, the U.S. government took measures to limit exports of artificial intelligence (AI) software to China.

“Considering the trade war and tech competition, China has been significantly valuing fundamental frontier research – for example, IT industry, fundamental materials and chipsets, to which Chinese authorities have now attached unprecedented importance,” Xiang Ligang, Director General of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times. “Each fundamental area mentioned in MOST’s next five-year development plan is highly crucial, based on which major technology breakthroughs could be made. For example, from research on fundamental materials, R&D projects could cover chipset materials, space shuttle and deep-sea vehicle materials,” Xiang said.

The severe U.S. crackdown on Chinese tech firms such as Huawei and ZTE has driven China to strengthen its tech infrastructure and to build self-sufficient supply chains, with some even carrying out a de-Americanization campaign to reduce reliance on core components from the U.S. In the 14th Five Year Plan roadmap, MOST urged greater focus on self-reliance and innovation and to work on existing shortcomings, which had not been mentioned in the previous five-year plan.