Overview of China's 12th Five-Year Plan

In 2011, China will enter its 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015). The development goals, directions and industry strategies for the entire plan were set in October 2010, and will be of critical importance for China's development over the next five to ten years. This report looks at the core directions for development in the 12th Five-Year Plan.

The 12th Five-Year Plan makes it clear that China, which overtook Japan in 2010 to become the world's number two economy, has now turned its attention from the pursuit of national strength to increasing its people's prosperity. It places far greater emphasis on internal markets and domestic demand than ever before, and includes industrial structures that emphasize added value. The 12th Five-Year Plan also sets out seven major new strategic industries, for which investment is projected to reach CNY10 trillion over the next five years; the sheer scale of the commercial opportunities created needs no further explanation. However, China has typically left no stone unturned in its efforts to foster domestic enterprises, and the 12th Five-Year Plan is no exception in this regard, as the plans for the seven new strategic industries will also serve to significantly bolster the position of homegrown businesses.

China's 12th Five-Year Plan reorients China's industry towards a number of sectors that are still fairly new even in global terms. It also adds services and applications, demonstrating China's dissatisfaction with its previous status as a comparatively backward nation in technological terms, as well as its determination to leverage the country's massive domestic market and participate in the creation of new business models and standards for such industries in their formative stages. In the future, China is likely to make giant leaps forward in growth for sectors as diverse as new communications applications and renewable energy, as well as gaining a firm grasp of core technologies and standards. This report clearly explains China's intentions in all these areas.