It has spent years pinpointing America’s weaknesses and mitigating its own
|BEIJING|13 min read
SEVEN YEARS ago, when America’s trade war with China was just getting started, the Chinese science and technology ministry did something unusual. Its official newspaper, which usually confines itself to puff pieces about China’s accomplishments, instead published 35 articles over three months detailing the country’s weaknesses. Each one examined a specific “chokepoint”—a technology critical to the economy that China could not produce, forcing it to rely on foreign imports.
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This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Fighting fit”

From the October 25th 2025 edition
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