The Western image of China as merely the world’s factory for cheap goods has been dismantled step by step, but the final realization has yet to sink in. In 2020 the pandemic exposed China’s dominance in pharmaceutical ingredients, and in 2025 the West has discovered its control over rare earth metals. In the meantime, China became a global leader in producing high-end batteries and electric vehicles. Still, one shift remains underestimated: China’s ability to push the frontier of innovation. A clear example is biotechnology, where China has emerged as a world leader in developing new medicines — capturing 31% of the global market after starting from zero just a few years ago.
