China unveils sweeping plan to dominate the world as US falters
China unveiled a sweeping plan to accelerate its technological dominance globally through the development of artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and humanoid robots in its latest five-year policy blueprint. The document, released alongside the opening of the National People’s Congress, underlines Beijing’s ambition to seize the leading position in science and technology and to pursue decisive breakthroughs in core technologies.
In the document, the Chinese government identifies AI as one of the main pillars of the country’s economic transformation. The term AI is mentioned more than 50 times in the 141-page document, which also contains a major initiative titled AI+ Action Plan. The plan covers policies ranging from using robots to fill labour shortages to deploying AI agents capable of performing tasks with minimal human direction. Brookings Institution technology researcher Kyle Chan said Beijing’s strategy aims to boost productivity across sectors: “Beijing’s objective is to use AI and robotics to raise productivity and performance in sectors from manufacturing and logistics to education and healthcare,” Chan told Reuters on Friday (6 March 2026).
Beyond AI, the Chinese authorities also target breakthroughs in advanced fields such as quantum computing, 6G networks, and embodied AI that underpin humanoid robotics. Premier Li Qiang even places technology as a top priority in the government’s latest work report, describing it as a source of high-quality productive force.
Competition to surpass United States dominance
This aggressive step by China is driven by intensifying technology rivalry with the United States. Beijing still depends on certain American technologies such as semiconductor chips and aircraft. The competition has prompted both sides to impose export controls on important products and resources, particularly advanced chips by Washington and rare earths and critical minerals by Beijing.
China claims it is beginning to lead in several future-tech sectors, including AI, biomedicine, robotics, and quantum computing. Chinese AI model developers such as DeepSeek are also cited as making rapid progress in recent years. The government also plans to build extremely large-scale computing centres powered by cheap electricity and to foster the development of an open-source AI ecosystem. Technology analysts at Gavekal Dragonomics, Tilly Zhang, say this open-source strategy could give China an edge in the global technology race: “I believe China has studied this carefully and decided to make AI open source a central strategic driver, giving China a competitive advantage over the United States,” she said.