Tech advances pave way for high-quality growth of China's economy

Editor's note: As China is busy preparing for the annual two sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), some Western media have been enthusiastically hyping that the Chinese economy is collapsing. Is the Chinese economy going to fail? What opportunities have China's growth brought to the world? China's Economy from a Global Perspective is a 10-part series analyzing the above questions. The sixth essay focuses on China's technology. Belunn Se is a senior industry observer based in Shenzhen, China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

In recent years, strategic competition between major powers has intensified, with technological competition becoming the focus. The United States has defined the next decade as the "decisive decade" of great power competition and views China as its "most serious geopolitical challenge."

Against this backdrop, the Biden administration has prioritized technological competition in its strategic rivalry with China and has continued to ramp up its "offensive" against the country. Apart from talking down the Chinese economy in an attempt to dent global investors' confidence, the U.S., via strategies including the Inflation Reduction Act, has been straining every nerve to prevent China from acquiring advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities.

Can Washington's attempts thwart China's technological growth?

To begin with, certain Westerners seem to have underestimated the strength of China, which has emerged as the second largest economy precisely because it has established itself as a technology superpower. Washington's determination to contain China's technological development does not mean it has the capability to do so.

In application areas such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce, and mobile payment, both the U.S. and China are leading players. Home to about 40 percent of the global "lighthouse factories," China boasts the world's largest 5G network and ranks second in computing power. From 2016 to 2022, the scale of China's digital economy increased by 4.1 trillion dollars, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.2 percent.

"China leads in 37 of 44 technologies tracked in a year-long project by thinktank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute," The Guardian said in its article, adding that the U.S. and other Western countries "are losing the race with China" in advanced technology.

In addition, Washington's sanctions will make China more determined in tech innovation and thus will further accelerate China's technological progression. Amid Western attempts to cut off Chinese companies from advanced origin chip technologies, the China-made chip at the heart of Huawei's Mate 60 Pro phone are seen by many including some Westerners as a win for China to defy Western sanctions. The launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro phone "has sparked hushed concern in Washington that U.S. sanctions have failed to prevent China from making a key technological advance," The Washington Post said in its article.

China's drive for a leading player in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, to some extent, explains the resilience in its economy. As a result of China's technological growth, the country's export trade structure has continued to upgrade from the "Old Three" represented by clothing, home appliances, and furniture, to the "New Three" represented by new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic solar panels.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's auto exports surged 57.9 percent year-on-year in 2023. Driven by the strong growth of electric vehicles, China surpassed Japan to become the world's top automobile exporter last year. The continuous optimization and upgrading of China's export product structure and technology reflect the new trend of high-quality development of the Chinese economy.

Facing containment from abroad, China will continue to strengthen the construction of major scientific and technological innovation platforms, support leading scientists in conducting original and pioneering scientific and technological research, strive to break through core technology challenges, and achieve tech independence in key areas.

Pessimistic voices failed to dent the momentum of China's technological development and the resilience in the Chinese economy. Against the strong headwinds, the Chinese economy – driven by its robust technological growth – has been continuously upgrading.

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