China’s 14th five-year plan for textiles released
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s 14th five-year plan period (2021-25) was approved on March 11.
China’s five-year plans act as something of a social and economic roadmap for the country and have been issued by the CCP since 1953.
Recently, the 14th five-year plan for textiles was released, which underscores the nation’s commitment to accelerating technological innovation and standardisation across the board, including the adoption of “green” and increasingly digitised measures. The initial establishment of an industry-wide big data centre for textiles and apparel was singled out as an example of China’s early, existing success in the area of industrial digitisation.
Furthermore, the plan encourages the ongoing cultivation of international competitive advantages and, by extension, political soft power through the advancement of “high-quality” local brands with enhanced technological capabilities, as well as an in-built ability to spur national fashion consumption and scale “new heights” in terms of sustainable development.
On a more sociocultural level, the guidelines also urge the Chinese textile industry to contribute to the improvement of citizens’ livelihoods and overall well-being, as far as this relates to a sense of personal security and happiness.
Broadly, this includes progress in the form of sustainable employee income growth, labour security, the upgrading of industrial clusters and the promotion of “new types” of urbanisation to help “enrich” people’s lives and revitalise rural and economically underdeveloped areas, according to the document.
The need to further develop a “market-oriented, enterprise-based” scientific and technological innovation system at the national level that combines production, education and research was also highlighted. Digital strategies such as the creation of a tech-forward, collaborative “innovation platform” were identified as key building blocks regarding the realisation of this aim over the next five years.
Image by Engin Akyurt via Unsplash.
