China’s Innovation System: Fruitful and Resilient
This is the strength of China’s innovation system: it not only nurtures abundant fruits of innovation but also effectively withstands the risks and challenges posed by emerging technologies and new phenomena.
On the banks of the Huangpu River, profound questions of our era prompt deep reflection: As machines begin to think, how should humanity coexist with them? As algorithms participate in decision-making, how can security be ensured? As technology tests ethics, how can governance keep pace? And as divides widen, how can inclusiveness be achieved?
At the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, President Xi Jinping offered a clear answer: “We must uphold a people-centered approach and the vision of pursuing the greater good. We should make artificial intelligence a vital driver of common prosperity and shared security.”
In this inaugural year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the “first lesson of the year” emphasized the need to “build a modern industrial system in a solid and steady manner.” The President’s first local inspection visit took him to the National Information Technology Application Innovation Industrial Park in Beijing’s Yizhuang district, and the first collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee focused on future industries. These speeches and visits underscore the strategic significance of scientific and technological innovation for China’s development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period and beyond.
As the new technological revolution and industrial transformation accelerate, “the situation is both pressing and compelling.” How will China seize the future?
Upholding People-Centeredness: Anchoring the Pursuit of Good
Brilliant ideas from laboratories and promising projects in financial markets must ultimately translate into practical applications to realize their full value.
Who replies instantly to residents’ requests at two o’clock in the morning? Who first notices when a trash bin is full? In many subdistricts and communities across Beijing, 24/7 AI “social workers” have quietly gone on duty, delivering immediate results. With AI embedded in grassroots governance, services are more efficient, management more refined, and citizens enjoy greater convenience.
Upgrading traditional manufacturing, refining urban grassroots governance, and advancing agricultural modernization—all demand innovation support. Requirements such as “closely integrating science and technology with the economy,” “highlighting application-oriented guidance,” and “seamlessly connecting innovation chains with industrial chains” reflect the fundamental principle that technology must benefit the people.
Ultimately, any frontier technology must serve the real economy, address practical problems, and improve livelihoods. Extensive scenarios, broad applications, rapid iteration, and public benefit—these are the hallmarks of Chinese innovation and its advantages in securing the future.
Ensuring Security: Building a Solid Foundation for Development
“Core technologies in key fields cannot be begged, bought, or borrowed.” Only by advancing high-level self-reliance and self-strengthening can we prevail.
Undeterred by foreign supply cutoffs and suppression, domestic chips have achieved continuous breakthroughs. Tackling the “stranglehold” on germplasm resources, we are accelerating seed source autonomy and controllability. Breaking monopolies and blockades on high-end machine tools, achievements like five-axis linkage machining centers have been realized. Leveraging the strengths of the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide, we have tackled tough challenges head-on, firmly securing the initiative in our own development.
Frontier and novel technologies often entail uncertainty and risk. “As frontier technologies like AI undergo accelerated iterative application, their ‘double-edged sword’ effects become increasingly apparent.”
China has established an AI employment impact assessment system to minimize disruptions to jobs; enacted regulations on data security and personal information protection to strictly curb excessive collection of private data; and improved access and OTA (Over-the-Air) filing systems for intelligent connected vehicles to safeguard dual security in autonomous driving—both operational safety and data security. These practices, balancing development and security, set a benchmark for the world.
This ability—to cultivate rich harvests of innovation while effectively resisting the risks and challenges of new technologies—is the strength of China’s innovation system and the very source of the resilience of the Chinese economy.
Realizing Inclusiveness: Broadening the Path to Shared Success
Advanced technology, if well-used, benefits the entire globe; if misused, no country can remain unscathed. Sharing and co-governance are the inevitable path forward.
Under the China Smart Farm Integrated Development Program, Cambodian farmers have seen significant improvements in the survival rate and quality of giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) larvae. Annual income per hectare has surged from approximately USD 1,000 to over USD 3,000. With the empowerment of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, the export of green electricity, and the open-sourcing of large models, China demonstrates through action that cutting-edge technologies are not the “exclusive patents” of any single nation but should better serve all humanity.
President Xi’s declaration—“We will help Global South countries strengthen capacity building, bridge the digital and intelligent divide, promote sustainable development, and prevent new historical injustices in the field of AI”—is deeply inspiring. China has remained steadfast in ensuring that frontier technologies are inclusive and beneficial to all.
Proposing the Global AI Governance Initiative, advocating for the establishment of a World AI Cooperation Organization, and supporting the launch of the World Data Organization in Beijing—by sharing dividends, solving problems together, and jointly managing risks, China’s path of harmony and coexistence serves as a golden key to addressing global challenges in science and technology.
“Smart Partners, Co-creating the Future”—this is the theme of the 2026 WAIC and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance. “Partners” implies walking alongside technology and wisely harnessing AI; more profoundly, it signifies that on the road to development, all nations are fellow travelers and dream-chasers.
Bearing the formidable mission of supporting and leading Chinese modernization through scientific and technological innovation, and embracing the grand vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, China’s pursuit of innovation presses onward without pause.