As China drafts its 15th five-year plan – the next entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development over more than seven decades – we examine how these documents inform and reflect high-level policy priorities, what to expect in the coming iteration and how fine-tuning supply chains would work to China’s advantage.
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On paper, when Apple unveiled its latest flagship smartphone earlier this month, all US-bound models of the iPhone 17 were said to be produced in India – a headline-grabbing announcement that reportedly reflected fraught China-US trade ties while amping up the decoupling rhetoric.
Yet, a “made-in-India” iPhone often only means that the final screws are tightened there, while the guts of the device – including batteries, displays and camera modules – still flow from a Chinese supply chain that is second to none, Patrick McGee, author of Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company, said in a media interview in May.
This highlights China’s manufacturing ecosystem, which, after decades of refinement, has cemented itself as the world’s most complete and resilient across numerous industries – an achievement that is often a point of national pride.
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As Beijing mulls the country’s 15th five-year plan – a development blueprint that will shape its policy trajectory for the rest of the decade, over what looks to remain a period of domestic economic transformation and heightened external uncertainty – analysts expect policymakers to solidify what the nation has achieved in terms of supply-chain resilience and to move further up the value chain while addressing more chokepoints in hi-tech areas.
