China Just Dropped the Most Ambitious AI Plan on Earth
The United States has its executive orders. The EU has its AI Act. But on March 5, 2026, China unveiled something far more sweeping: a 141-page national blueprint that essentially bets the country’s economic future on artificial intelligence. China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, released at the opening of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, mentions AI more than 50 times and includes what officials are calling an “AI+ action plan” — a comprehensive strategy to embed artificial intelligence into virtually every sector of the world’s second-largest economy. From manufacturing floors to hospital wards, from logistics networks to classrooms, Beijing is telling the world: AI isn’t a side project. It’s the project. ...