The China-proposed Global Civilization Initiative, which aims to promote exchanges and mutual learning and enhance the development of all civilizations, marked its third anniversary on Sunday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, put forward the initiative while delivering a keynote address at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting in Beijing on March 15, 2023.
The initiative was founded on four fundamental principles.
First, it advocates respect for the diversity of civilizations, letting cultural exchanges transcend estrangement.
Second, it advocates the common values of humanity, including peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom.
The initiative is also built on a commitment to the inheritance and innovation of civilizations, urging efforts to push for creative transformation and innovative development of their fine traditional cultures.
Last but not least, it supports robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, calling for the building of a global network for inter-civilization dialogue and cooperation.
China-proposed Global Civilization Initiative marks 3rd anniversary
China's outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), adopted on Thursday, maps out a systematic path toward high-quality development by building new growth drivers through the fostering of emerging and future industries.
In the latest five-year blueprint, the emerging strategic industries China will nurture have been expanded to include new sectors like intelligent connected new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and robotics. It also outlines plans to establish emerging strategic industry clusters tailored to local conditions, each with its own distinctive features and complementary strengths.
Experts suggested that this marks a shift for emerging industries -- from isolated breakthroughs to scaled, clustered development.
"During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we aim to further promote and expand emerging industries in both scale and quality. The development of industrial clusters is a clear reflection of economies of scale. Building on the existing foundation, this will further sharpen the international competitiveness of our emerging industries. The blueprint's emphasis on new application scenarios and innovative business models will also help steer these industries toward a higher quality of development," said Wei Qijia, a researcher at the State Information Center, which is under China's National Development and Reform Commission.
The plan also identifies key frontiers to reach, including quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied artificial intelligence (AI) and 6G. Moving beyond mere technological roadmaps, it also stresses the need to build a full-chain incubation system for future industries.
"This forward-looking approach reflects a keen sense of foresight. The plan introduces mechanisms for identifying and monitoring emerging industries and making dynamic adjustments accordingly. If a particular new area or arena shows potential to foster emerging future technologies, it needs to be identified as early as possible. The blueprint's specific references to initiatives such as pilot zones for future industries and research institutes dedicated to their development also signal an important direction in terms of working methodology -- providing clear guidance on how to nurture the industries of the future," he said.
China's five-year blueprint set to foster emerging, future industries
