In 2015, China issued a strategy plan known as “Made-in-China-2025,” making it known that the nation planned to become the world’s manufacturer of all high-tech equipment. As a new US Chamber of Commerce report shows, the industrialized West took little notice, despite several analyses warning about the detrimental impact on national industries.“China’s Next-Generation Industrial Policy” examines what is coming as China ramps up its ambitions to become globally dominant. The analysis is deeply concerning. Many governments in the West seem paralyzed or unable to take effective action.This may be due to the so-called “Hidden Hand: How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World.” Just reading the overview on Amazon is chilling for those of us who love our freedoms. It opens with a Globe and Mail headline that reads: “Legal challenge halts Canadian, U.S. and U.K. release of book critical of Chinese Communist Party, Globe and Mail, by Robert Fife.”“That said it all. The hands of the Chinese Communist Party were going on the offence. The 48 Group Club, a China friendly group of former UK ambassadors and Prime Ministers were embarrassed by their connections to a Club founded by key members of the Chinese Communist Party of Britain, whose chair Stephen Perry suggested that China's approach to world order and rule was superior to democracy, and the UK should embrace them.”Perhaps the Hidden Hand is why, despite the obvious and openly stated threat to industry and trade, many in Western governments “go along to get along,” even if it means pushing their own people and industries into disaster. Take Canada’s EV policies.Under Justin Trudeau, the push for “green” transportation like EVs in Canada has led to a series of malinvestments that have cost taxpayers and industry billions of dollars in losses. The Carney government's “solution” — based on Canada’s recent pivot to China as a strategic partner — is to allow 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada at a most-favoured-tariff rate. While Carney set out an allegedly new EV mandate, as Robert Lyman reports in “Bait and Switch”, published by Friends of Science Society (where I am the Communications Manager), the upshot is that EV compliance will be accomplished by stealth and with big damage to our economy..“The loss of alignment with US emissions regulations will undoubtedly have negative effects on the Canadian vehicle manufacturers and the companies in their supply chains, both in Canada and the United States. The Canadian motor vehicle manufacturing industry is a major economic driver, with the broader transportation equipment sector rebounding to $124.2 billion in revenue by 2022, heavily boosted by light-duty vehicle production. It contributes over $16 billion annually to GDP, supports 500,000+ jobs, and is a top export sector.”Why is Canada willing to take a hit of billions of dollars in losses as Canada’s own auto sector is decimated by this “Made-in-China-2025” move? As discussed in committee meetings of the past weeks, the head of GM Canada stated, “This (Chinese EV agreement) will undermine Canada’s supplier base and hollow out our skilled automotive workforce.”As outlined in Dan Wang’s book “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future,” due to the nature of China’s manufacturing, finance, and government incentive structure, Chinese firms massively over-manufacture products far beyond available markets, leading to international dumping of EVs (as well as solar panels, wind turbines, and other devices). Canada’s domestic manufacturers in the auto sector cannot compete with China. China uses below market-priced oil from Iran, low-paid or slave labour working 9/9/6 (9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week = 72 hours), it has the global corner on domestically produced and processed critical minerals, is highly automated, lacks strict environmental/climate regulations and labour laws, and has no carbon tax of any consequence.As Dan Wang reported, “China now has the capacity to produce around sixty million cars a year (one-third electric, two-thirds combustion) out of an annual global market of around ninety million cars sold. China’s domestic market absorbs less than half of its production.”Since they can’t find a market at home, these cars will be dumped abroad. Consumers will love the low prices, without realizing they are putting thousands of Canadian auto workers, tool and die manufacturers, auto dealers, and their staff out of business..In a Friends of Science Society 2024 interview with Dr. Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, he pointed out that net zero climate goals hand the advantage directly to China, saying: “The Europeans and Americans would not object to cheap Chinese cars EVs or cheap Chinese solar panels or cheap Chinese wind turbines. If that is the solution, you would go for the cheapest option. But because this is not about climate change, this is about industrial competition, this is about vested interests…”In the Canada Top Risks 2026 Report by RBC and Eurasia Group (Butts and Stackhouse), China is seen to be in a process of involution and deflation. A new report from the Swiss-based LOOM Strategy cautions the EU against bluntly turning from Russia to China, just as Canada should be cautioned about turning a cold shoulder to the US in favour of China, a country facing significant internal financial and social challenges.Canada likes to claim it is a climate leader, and with China’s recent build-out of vast wind and solar facilities, some say we should follow China’s lead.Despite recent claims by Jackson and Larsen (2026) that China is the undisputed leader in green energy and that the People’s Bank of China is “The world’s most important green central bank,” the fact remains that China runs on coal, providing a competitive advantage of reliable, affordable electrical energy.‘Green’ policies like EVs and the “electro-tech” future should not be emulated unless backed up by lots of reliable power: “As of July 2025, China has over 1,195 operational coal-fired power plants. With more than 3,092 individual units, China operates over half of the world's total coal power capacity, with 78 GW of new capacity added in 2025.”Ultimately, it must be said that those who admire the “green” technologies flowing from China never seem to acknowledge the reality. China is an industrial powerhouse because of its exceptional coal-fired power plant fleet and massive hydro facilities like the Three Gorges Dam.While the West has complacently deindustrialized, China is on to its Next-Generation of global dominance.They have a strategy. What do we have?
