Growth driver shifts from bricks to bits

If you want to understand where the world is heading, stop looking at the skyscraper cranes in Beijing and start looking at the 5G base stations in the countryside.

For decades, the story of China was the story of "hard infrastructure" — concrete, steel and a property market that seemed like it would never stop climbing. But something fundamental has changed.

While the world was busy watching China's real estate sector contract by 0.2 percent and its construction industry dip by 4 percent in the first half of 2026, the country was quietly finishing a massive rewiring of its entire economic base.

China's GDP still grew by a steady 4.7 percent to reach 69.57 trillion yuan ($10.31 trillion) in the first half of 2026, but the engines driving that growth weren't bulldozers — they were algorithms.

China is building a new kind of "central nervous system" for its society.

By July 2026, the country had installed 5.1 million 5G base stations. That's not just a statistic; it's a platform. It has applied 5G and gigabit optical networks across 94 major categories of the national economy.

And it isn't stopping there. It has already made significant strides in verifying 6G system architecture. When you have that kind of wiring, science stops being something you do in a lab and starts being a direct productive force that automates the basics of life.

The second layer of this rewiring is energy.

China didn't just meet its 2030 wind and solar power targets — it crushed them six years early in 2024.

By the end of July 2026, its solar capacity hit a staggering 1,274 gigawatts.

This isn't just about environmental concerns, it's about a strategic pivot to energy abundance. When your nonfossil energy consumption exceeds crude oil for the first time in history — as China did in 2024 — you are no longer just an oil importer; you are an exporter of the future.

Just look at the numbers: In May 2026, it is reported that China's electric vehicle exports hit a record $9.2 billion, a 49 percent leap from the year before. It isn't just selling cars; it is selling the "New Three" clean-tech categories that are redefining global trade.

But here is where it gets really interesting. On July 17, 2026, President Xi Jinping stood up at the World AI Conference in Shanghai and essentially offered to share the "operating system" of this new era with the rest of the world. He called AI a "symphony of international cooperation" rather than a solo act.

Think about what he offered to the Global South over the next five years: 5,000 training opportunities in AI for developing nations; international AI application centers for groupings such as ASEAN, BRICS and the African Union; and the MAZU AI early-warning system to 30 countries to fight climate disasters.

That's not just building a coalition; that's building the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, headquartered in Shanghai with 29 founding members. While some are trying to build an "AI Iron Curtain", China is pitching an open-source model where intelligence is a public good, not a private commodity.

The core conclusion is this: China is betting that if you automate the basics, you change the "superstructure" of society itself.

With per capita GDP hitting 99,665 yuan and labor productivity rising by 6.1 percent in 2025, the material conditions for a totally new kind of society are being laid. As the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) ended and the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) began, China is moving toward a future of technological abundance.

The global playing field is no longer just leveling; it is being rewired into a "symphony of international cooperation" where open-source AI and green energy abundance are the primary engines fast-tracking a new economic era designed to solve foundational human needs.

The only question left is: Who else is ready to play in the orchestra?

The author is a former prime minister of Mongolia.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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