China's 2025 Policy Priorities: Balancing Consumer Spending and Technological Advancement

What China's priorities mean for industries, companies

BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - China laid out its major policy priorities for 2025 at an annual parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, including how it plans to spur consumption and achieve technological breakthroughs. Here are some of the key industries and technologies mentioned in the reports and on the sidelines of the meeting: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE China pledged to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI)development, with Premier Li Qiang's government work report saying that AI would be integrated into the country's manufacturing base. The plan calls for broader deployment of large language models and aims to leverage China's industrial strengths to expand AI applications. It also highlighted embodied intelligence - the technology underlying humanoid robots - positioning it as a key industry of the future. AVIATION China state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said it plans to boost production capacity for the homegrown C919 narrow-body passenger jet and accelerate efforts to expand the overseas market for its smaller C909 regional jet. Both jets are made by state planemaker Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China. AUTOS China plans to further boost domestic demand for cars with subsidies this year with a 300 billion yuan ($41.32 billion)boost to its consumer goods trade-in program. The subsidy program covered over 6.8 million vehicles last year. It also said it would to "vigorously develop" intelligent connected new energy vehicles as part of its AI initiatives, and also expand large-scale applications of intelligent connected vehicles at the city level. PLATFORM ECONOMY China will promote the healthy and "well-regulated" development of the platform economy, Li's report said. Authorities plan to encourage further protections for merchants as well as the standardisation of promotion rules, given the increase in low price matching policies across platforms which has caused intense price competition, Luo Wen, head of the State Administration for Market Regulation told reporters on the sidelines of the parliamentary meeting. China's so-called 'platform economy' which refers to its enormous e-commerce market dominated by platforms from tech giants Alibaba (9988.HK), opens new tab, PDD Holdings (PDD.O), opens new tab and JD.com (9618.HK), opens new tab. DATA China will improve its basic data system and further develop and utilize data resources, as part of a broader plan to energize its digital economy, Li's work report said. It will also promote cross-border data flows though keeping them under regulation. Cross-border data flows is an area that has concerned many foreign companies in China. HEALTHCARE China will revise its centralized drug procurement system following recent quality concerns over generic medicines supplied to public hospitals. The plans also include expanding mental health education, enhancing disability services, and accelerating the development of long-term care insurance programs. STEEL China, for the first time in the past five years, unveiled a plan to trim crude steel output this year in an NDRC draft report. Although it does not give a specific target of output cut, market participants, who widely did not expect to see such a clear guidance for the steel industry in such reports, expect China's giant steel sector will see some benefits if implemented stringently. China's ailing steel market has taken a hit from the protracted property woes and its growing steel exports have stoked mounting trade frictions from overseas countries, who say the flood of cheap Chinese steel products have hurt local manufacturers. Another wave of trade frictions stirred by U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariffs has clouded outlook for its steel exports this year. China has started to control its crude steel output from 2021 in a bid to limit carbon emissions. ($1 = 7.2602 Chinese yuan renminbi) Reporting by Liam Mo, Casey Hall, Che Pan, Zhang Yan, Qiaoyi Li, Andrew Silver and Amy Lv; Editing by Brenda Goh and Raju Gopalakrishnan Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Asia PacificADAS, AV & SafetySoftware-Defined VehicleManufacturingProducts

What China's priorities mean for industries, companies

BEIJING (Reuters) - China laid out its major policy priorities for 2025 at an annual parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, including how it plans to spur consumption and achieve technological breakthroughs. Here are some of the key industries and technologies mentioned in the reports and on the sidelines of the meeting: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE China pledged to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI)development, with Premier Li Qiang's government work report saying that AI would be integrated into the country's manufacturing base. The plan calls for broader deployment of large language models and aims to leverage China's industrial strengths to expand AI applications. It also highlighted embodied intelligence - the technology underlying humanoid robots - positioning it as a key industry of the future. AVIATION China state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said it plans to boost production capacity for the homegrown C919 narrow-body passenger jet and accelerate efforts to expand the overseas market for its smaller C909 regional jet. Both jets are made by state planemaker Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China. AUTOS China plans to further boost domestic demand for cars with subsidies this year with a 300 billion yuan ($41.32 billion)boost to its consumer goods trade-in program. The subsidy program covered over 6.8 million vehicles last year. It also said it would to "vigorously develop" intelligent connected new energy vehicles as part of its AI initiatives, and also expand large-scale applications of intelligent connected vehicles at the city level. PLATFORM ECONOMY China will promote the healthy and "well-regulated" development of the platform economy, Li's report said. Authorities plan to encourage further protections for merchants as well as the standardisation of promotion rules, given the increase in low price matching policies across platforms which has caused intense price competition, Luo Wen, head of the State Administration for Market Regulation told reporters on the sidelines of the parliamentary meeting. China's so-called 'platform economy' which refers to its enormous e-commerce market dominated by platforms from tech giants Alibaba, PDD Holdings and JD.com. DATA China will improve its basic data system and further develop and utilize data resources, as part of a broader plan to energize its digital economy, Li's work report said. It will also promote cross-border data flows though keeping them under regulation. Cross-border data flows is an area that has concerned many foreign companies in China. HEALTHCARE China will revise its centralized drug procurement system following recent quality concerns over generic medicines supplied to public hospitals. The plans also include expanding mental health education, enhancing disability services, and accelerating the development of long-term care insurance programs. STEEL China, for the first time in the past five years, unveiled a plan to trim crude steel output this year in an NDRC draft report. Although it does not give a specific target of output cut, market participants, who widely did not expect to see such a clear guidance for the steel industry in such reports, expect China's giant steel sector will see some benefits if implemented stringently. China's ailing steel market has taken a hit from the protracted property woes and its growing steel exports have stoked mounting trade frictions from overseas countries, who say the flood of cheap Chinese steel products have hurt local manufacturers. Another wave of trade frictions stirred by U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariffs has clouded outlook for its steel exports this year. China has started to control its crude steel output from 2021 in a bid to limit carbon emissions. (Reporting by Liam Mo, Casey Hall, Che Pan, Zhang Yan, Qiaoyi Li, Andrew Silver and Amy Lv; Editing by Brenda Goh and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

China prioritises consumer spending ahead of technology as economic worries weigh

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - Spurring reluctant Chinese consumers to spend has been elevated to the top of Beijing's to-do list for 2025, leap-frogging technology and industrial production, as lawmakers look to rectify imbalances in the world's second-largest economy. Chinese Premier Li Qiang's report on Wednesday to the annual meeting of the country's parliament on major tasks for 2025 promised a "special action plan" for vigorously boosting consumption and stimulating domestic demand as the country set a roughly 5% growth target for 2025. Until now, Chinese officials have been hesitant to introduce policies that put more money into consumers' pockets, but such moves are being seen as increasingly important as Beijing fights a damaging trade war with Washington and needs Chinese consumers to step up and purchase the products other markets may buy less of as tariffs rise. The term "consumption" was mentioned 31 times in Li's report, up from 21 times last year, while "technology" received 28 mentions, slightly up from 26 in 2024, according to Guotai Junan analysts. Last year, modernising the industrial system and developing "new productive forces", a mantra coined by Chinese President Xi Jinping that refers to support for developing sectors such as electric vehicles and quantum computing to drive the economy, was the top priority. China's household spending is less than 40% of annual economic output, some 20 percentage points below the global average. Investment, by comparison, is 20 points above. "Beijing has recognised that previous supply-side technological stimulation led to an imbalance, with consumer demand and the services sector remaining subdued," said Tilly Zhang, a technology analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics. Specific measures outlined to boost consumption this year include a significant expansion of China's trade-in scheme launched last year that so far has focused on electric cars, consumer electronics and appliances. Ultra-long special treasury bonds valued at 300 billion yuan ($41.26 billion) would be issued to support the programme this year, an increase of 150 billion yuan over last year. "By extending the programme to more products, refining procedures for claiming subsidies and improving the recycling system for old goods, we will be able to greatly boost spending on big-ticket items," China's finance ministry work report said. Beijing also pledged more support for the care of elderly people and children and the broader healthcare system, moves long believed to be needed to give Chinese consumers a bigger safety net in order to feel comfortable spending more. Faster spending growth for digital and smart products, culture, tourism and sports was promised, alongside refined policies on duty-free shops to stimulate consumption. TECHNOLOGY STILL KEY Still, China signalled technology would remain a key focus, warning that a "increasingly complex and severe external environment" could impact the country in areas such as trade, science and technology. While the report did not directly mention the U.S., Bo Zhengyuan, a partner at Plenum China Research, said "there's an evident expectation that U.S. technology containment measures against China will further intensify." Several rounds of U.S. chip restrictions have made it illegal for Chinese entities to obtain a wide range of advanced AI chips, prompting a domestic substitution plan. Artificial intelligence was mentioned multiple times in the report, which said Beijing would boost support for the application of large-scale AI models. It also laid out plans to cultivate young scientists and engineers, in a sign of China's eagerness to build on the success of homegrown AI startup DeepSeek, which was mostly staffed by young researchers. "China will strive to create an enabling environment for innovation that encourages exploration and tolerates failure," the report said. China said it wants to foster "industries of the future" including embodied AI, which is crucial to developing humanoid robots, biomanufacturing, quantum computing and 6G technology. Beijing also aims to facilitate breakthroughs in virtual reality, advanced computing and open-source RISC-V chips, the report said, pledging to increase funding support for these sectors and to encourage the growth of venture capital investment. Zhang said the report's emphasis on "effective investment" indicated a move away from broad interventions such as massive state funding that has flowed into semiconductors, and also signalled a softening of China's stance on self-reliance. "Officials seem to recognise that achieving self-sufficiency across all sectors may be unrealistic, and they're more focused on leading future technological developments rather than defending existing positions," she said. ($1 = 7.2705 Chinese yuan renminbi) Reporting by Casey Hall, Liam Mo, Che Pan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jamie Freed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Macro Matters Casey Hall Thomson Reuters Casey has reported on China's consumer culture from her base in Shanghai for more than a decade, covering what Chinese consumers are buying, and the broader social and economic trends driving those consumption trends. The Australian-born journalist has lived in China since 2007.