The most urgent theme running through China’s 15th Five-Year Plan is technological independence. The document calls for “extraordinary measures” to reduce Chinese reliance on foreign science and technology — language that signals both the scale of the ambition and the degree of vulnerability it is designed to address.

China’s dependence on outside technology remains substantial. In aircraft, advanced manufacturing equipment, precision instruments, gas turbines, enterprise software, and semiconductors, Chinese industry relies heavily on inputs from the United States, Europe, and Japan. The 15th FYP treats this as a strategic liability and funds accordingly.

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan is specific about where state money and policy support will flow. The document’s industrial priority table is worth working through sector by sector, because it tells you what the Chinese state believes it needs and what it intends to build.

Advanced Materials — Specialty steel, high-temperature alloys, ultrahigh-purity metals, advanced ceramics, high-performance fibers, and rare earths. Materials independence underlies every other manufacturing goal on this list.