Opinion

China’s innovation injects momentum into global development

With technological revolution and industrial transformation accelerating worldwide, innovation competition is heating up. China has made science and technology a top national priority, speeding up its drive for self‑reliance and boosting its global standing.

China’s growing international influence in innovation is first and foremost visible in its innovations now reaching far beyond its borders. From artificial intelligence and new‑energy vehicles to photovoltaics, energy storage, and digital infrastructure, Chinese technologies are not only enriching supply in various economies but also lowering the cost of related technologies and products, turning innovation into a tangible force for global development.

China also plays a bigger role in the global innovation network. Its huge market, complete industrial system, and diverse application scenarios offer a perfect testing ground from R&D to rollout. Increasingly, global companies are setting up their R&D and innovation centers in China, using the country as a living lab to test new ideas, refine business models, and take proven solutions to world markets.

Furthermore, China’s innovation influence is demonstrated through its commitment to open collaboration, enabling more countries to participate in global innovation processes and share in its dividends. It has opened its big‑science facilities to the world, joined hands in deep‑sea and space exploration, and deployed technologies like hybrid rice, aquaculture, and Juncao technology to help developing countries reduce poverty. At the same time, its Global AI Governance Initiative calls for an innovation environment that is open, fair, and free from discrimination. In all these ways, China is making a clear case: that scientific and technological progress should be a shared engine for solving global challenges and creating shared prosperity.

Policy

1. China aims to raise its non-fossil energy consumption share by about 1 percentage point each year through 2028, according to a three-year energy conservation and carbon reduction action plan released by the National Energy Administration on July 10.

2. A three-year plan to boost the rehabilitation assistive device industry was issued on July 13 by 14 agencies led by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The plan envisions that by 2028, a new development pattern will take shape, characterized by stronger market entities, robust carrier support, enhanced branding, active markets, and innovation-driven growth.

3. China targets RMB 60 trillion in retail sales by 2030, with consumption set to play a bigger role in driving economic growth, according to the newly released 15th Five-Year Plan for consumption expansion.

Data

1. According to the National Healthcare Security Administration, from January to May, revenue of the national basic medical insurance fund reached RMB 1.61 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 8.49 percent. Expenditures of the basic medical insurance fund totaled RMB 1.21 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 2.12 percent.

2. Since the beginning of this year, China has continued to implement major special projects for new materials and industrial foundation reengineering projects. To date, it has facilitated the market entry of new material products worth over RMB 55 billion, built the world's most comprehensive and largest-scale materials industry system, achieved an output value of nearly RMB 10 trillion in the new materials industry, and ranked among the global leaders in the production of more than 100 types of materials.

3. Statistics from the China Futures Association showed that from January to June, the national futures market accumulated a trading volume of 5.105 billion lots and a cumulative turnover of RMB 482.7 trillion, up 25.23 percent and 42.08 percent year-on-year, respectively.

4. China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sector reported continued growth in the first half of 2026. NEV output from January to June reached 7.438 million units, while sales stood at 7.446 million units, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. In June, sales of new energy vehicles accounted for nearly 60 percent of total new car sales.

5. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in June, the CPI rose by 1.0 percent year-on-year; the PPI rose by 4.1 percent year-on-year.

6. According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, as of the end of June, the total number of motor vehicles in the country reached 476 million, of which 371 million were automobiles; the number of motor vehicle drivers reached 567 million, of which 533 million were automobile drivers.

7. As of the morning of July 8, cross-border freight transported via the China-Laos Railway has exceeded 20 million tonnes and operated over 23,000 cross-border freight train trips since the line opened in December 2021, marking another milestone for this international rail corridor, according to China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd.

8. China has seen another bumper summer grain harvest in 2026. The country's summer grain output totaled 150.75 million tonnes this year, up 0.7 percent or 1 million tonnes year on year, according to a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics.

9. The total value of outbound licensing deals for Chinese innovative drugs exceeded USD 110 billion in the first half of the year, according to the National Medical Products Administration.

10. China's foreign trade in yuan-denominated terms grew 16.9 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2026 (H1). The total value of goods imports and exports reached RMB 25.47 trillion (about USD 3.75 trillion) in the January-June period, surpassing RMB 25 trillion for the first time in that period, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on July 14.

(Source: Economic Daily)