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1 [1] (April 16, 2026)

handle is hein.crs/goveuhf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: dana) Researc April 16, 2026 China's 15th Five-Year Plan: S&T and Economic Priorities On March 12, 2026, the legislature of the People's Republic of China (PRC or China) approved China's 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (FYP) (2025-2030) and the Outline of Long-Term Goals to 2035. The plan received previous input and approval from the Communist Party of China's apex institution-the Central Committee. The 15th FYP is a high-level national document that sets policy priorities and approaches-particularly in economics and science and technology (S&T)-for the next five years. This framework informs other PRC economic, industrial, S&T, and foreign trade and investment policies; and it guides PRC government and corporate strategies and activities at the national, local, and global level. The FYP reflects PRC leaders' emphasis on establishing China's global economic and S&T leadership and independence. The industries, projects, and technologies featured in the plan reflect co-developed PRC civilian and military priorities that are to receive preferential financial and policy support. See CRS In Focus IF11684, China 's 14th Five- Year Plan: A First Look; and CRS In Focus IF10964, Made in China 2025 and Industrial Policies: Issues for Congress. S&T Independence and Leadership The 15th FYP calls for extraordinary measures to reduce China's reliance on foreign S&T and strengthen China's S&T self-reliance and independent innovation capacity. It reinforces indigenous innovation as the core driver of China's development, a direction that PRC leaders first set in 2006. PRC indigenous innovation can involve the acquisition of foreign technologies that are then adapted and rebranded as PRC capabilities; the PRC uses foreign commercial and research ties to fill capability gaps in advancing national goals. The FYP focuses on boosting PRC capabilities to build self-reliance in areas in which China currently depends on the United States, Europe, and Japan, including aircraft; agriculture; advanced equipment, instruments, and tools; energy; gas turbines; software; and semiconductors (see Table 1). The FYP also emphasizes upgrading legacy industries (e.g., steel, petrochemicals, shipbuilding), and boosting advanced manufacturing with decisive breakthroughs in advanced materials, equipment, machine tools, and high-end instruments, and industrial applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. It calls for building PRC leadership in strategic and emerging sectors and making other decisive breakthroughs in core areas such as biotechnology, semiconductors, and software. The FYP prioritizes developing PRC-controlled and vertically integrated global supply chains with a central role for the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It sustains 14th FYP efforts to develop PRC research and development (R&D) capabilities to seize the commanding heights of science and technology. It seeks to expand the role of state capital and state-owned firms in the economy and the role of the Party in PRC firms. It elevates the role of state planning while looking to PRC firms to advance the plan's goals and to lead innovation efforts. It seeks to develop China's national economic security toolkit and unconventional use of antitrust, technical standards, investment, and intellectual property (IP) tools to support the commercialization and global expansion of technologies supported in PRC S&T and industrial plans. Table I. China's 15th FYP Industrial Priorities on r nt r