After two years of research, the “China Standards 2035” plan will be published later this year. 

It is a national strategy to set global rules across industries, with a specific focus on next-generation technologies such as 5G internet, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence.

Standards define how technologies and industries around the world work and how different systems are able to work together. 

In general, standards are set by private companies and international industry associations. Depending on the industry and product, standards are enforced either as a convention or as formal agreements.

The aim of the “China 2035 Standards” is to influence how the next generation of technologies will operate. 

As China seeks to become a global leader in high-tech innovation, this Plan work together with other industrial policies, such as “Made in China 2025” (a key industrial policy for industrial development through which China aims at becoming a major manufacturing power by the year 2025) and it is widely seen as the next step following this global manufacturing plan, but this time, with a much larger focus on technologies that are seen as defining the next decade.

As a matter of fact, before setting global standards, China must become self-sufficient in designing and producing high-tech products like semiconductors, for which the country still largely relies on foreign companies.

In many ways, then, “Made in China 2025” and “China Standards 2035” are two parts of the same wider strategy in which China aims to secure its future position as global economy leader.