Military-Civil Fusion in China's 15th Five-Year Plan
One of the least-discussed but most significant elements of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan is its treatment of military-civil fusion — the deliberate integration of civilian and military technology development, standards, and infrastructure.
The plan calls for creating interoperable civilian-defense standards and shared infrastructure, and for establishing what it terms a “green channel” that allows scientific and technological advancements made in the civilian sector to move rapidly into military applications. This is not a description of incidental dual-use — it is a designed system for accelerating the transfer of commercial innovation into defense capability.
The industries, projects, and technologies listed in the plan’s priority table are explicitly described as reflecting “co-developed PRC civilian and military priorities.” This means that state investment in aerospace, advanced materials, semiconductors, AI, marine technology, and quantum systems is simultaneously defense investment, regardless of how the spending is categorized.
This has direct implications for how foreign firms and research institutions should think about technology partnerships with Chinese counterparts. Collaboration in any of the plan’s priority sectors is, by design, collaboration with a system that routes civilian advances into military use. The plan makes no effort to obscure this — it describes it as a feature.
For US policymakers, the fusion architecture is the core argument for export controls, investment screening, and research security measures that target broad technology categories rather than narrowly defined military applications. The 15th FYP gives that argument renewed documentary support.