China Pursues ‘National Strategic Integration’ for its Centenary Goals |
In early March 2026, Chinese Premier Li Qiang recommended consolidating and enhancing the ‘Integrated National Strategic System and Capabilities’ for the Work of the Government in 2026 at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress in Beijing. This recommendation is to pursue ‘National Strategic Integration’ to achieve China’s overarching long-term goals across the economy, defence and security. The idea behind ‘integration’ is to make the development process faster, more efficient, and more effective. The process of such ‘integration’ requires creating a strategic system that facilitates sustained cooperation and collaboration among the concerned agencies, resources and forces across the country. This strategy aims to address the complex security challenges facing China and to provide a long-term strategic framework for realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.[i]
National Strategic Integration, or the Integrated National Strategic System and Capabilities, was put forward by Xi Jinping.[ii] It is a system of national strategies, including the 2021–2035 Medium and Long-term Science and Technological Development Plan, the Five-Year Development Plans, Made in China 2025, the Science, Technology and Innovation 2030 Plan, and the National Research and Development Program.[iii] These initiatives aim to integrate China’s economy, political system, society and defence apparatus.
The National Strategic Integration is the successor to the Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) development strategy launched in the mid-2010s. Compared with MCF, the National Strategic Integration is a broader and bolder effort to unite China’s economic, technological and national security systems to advance larger national objectives.[iv] The Central Military-Civil Fusion Development Commission (CMCFDC) is responsible for the top-level design, overall layout, coordination, promotion, and supervision of the implementation of the National Strategic Integration, in close liaison with central- and local-level agencies.[v] The CMCFDC and the newly established Central Science and Technology Commission (CSTC) are most likely the principal agencies responsible for and coordinating the implementation of National Strategic Integration.
Earlier, China pursued MCF to advance defence and socio-economic development goals.[vi] The word ‘fusion’ refers to the synthesis of several distinct entities into a unified whole, rendering the resulting entity more valuable or effective than any of its individual components.[vii] China’s MCF strategy is closely linked to the country’s objectives of building a strong economy and military under Xi Jinping’s regime. It aims to dismantle China’s traditional development paradigm in which the military and civilian sectors operate as self-contained, insular and highly monopolistic entities.[viii]
National Strategic Integration is said to incorporate MCF’s........