The China I have come to know through my own visits and work with universities and industries in recent years is part of a new world order.

China has passed constitutional reforms that give the market an important role in creating wealth by providing new land-use rights and legal status for the private economy, replacing the planned economy with a socialist market economy, and protecting people's private property and human rights in a way that is consistent with its strategic growth. Along with this constitutional reform, the National People's Congress is delivering ministerial reforms unparalleled in recent history while also inscribing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into the preamble of China's constitution.

The latest constitutional reforms passed by the NPC codify the role of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the constitution and ensure the political continuity needed to achieve new government targets of high-quality economic growth and domestic development across every region of the country.

It now enters a new era, defined in part by technological innovations that belong to China. The China I have come to know is investing in research and knowledge as never before. It will not be playing second fiddle to Europe and the US on innovations such as electric cars, nuclear energy or Industry 4.0.

Thanks to its constitutional reforms, China is taking a leading position in strategic high-tech sectors, such as space and satellite technology, deep-sea research and exploration, supercomputing, aviation and nuclear energy. The government’s new Made in China 2025 plan sets out China's objective of world leadership in 10 such strategic sectors, which cover nearly 40 percent of its manufacturing, and China is now equipped to deliver that.

Technological innovation touches every area of the reforms. The State Council is undergoing a large-scale overhaul, gaining seven new ministries. A Ministry of Ecological Environment will make China an environmental leader, streamlining its efforts to reduce the environmental imprint on the land and improve water and air quality.

Environmental protection takes on a new importance in China's reinvention of industries. China wants to be a leader in advanced manufacturing. Unlike the Germans – who are closing their nuclear plants – Chinese manufacturers are building fleets of next-generation nuclear facilities to replace the coal-fired stations that add to the smog, unhampered by the endless planning restrictions and fractured company ownership of the West. China's nuclear industry – comprising China General Nuclear Power Group, China National Nuclear Corp, and the State Nuclear Power Technology Co – build their nuclear plants on schedule and in budget.

And green Chinese cars run on green electricity. I saw part of this effort firsthand recently when I visited part of the Chinese effort in electric vehicles. The car battery research and innovation system is headquartered in Beijing, operating research, innovation, development and full-blown manufacturing. Within this full capability to make the batteries needed in these cars of the future, China has built the commercial incentives for success.

As the operation's modest director explained, they will work with foreign companies on the development but they will not be stopped in their drive to have clean air in their cities as they drive Chinese-made electric vehicles. According to the International Energy Agency, China overtook the US as the world's largest electric vehicle market last year, purchasing 336,000 units. Beijing’s policies have created a subsidy-led market for such vehicles, targeting one-fifth of the total automobile market in China by 2025.

The plan will boost China's technological competitiveness. BMW, Mercedes, Audi and VW are the pillars of German industrial prosperity and, just as their superb diesels are about to be turfed out of German cities, the Chinese are pouring effort into the future electric vehicles that the citizens of Munich will end up buying. They will be buying made-in-China cars, just as they are now buying made-in-China smartphones.

China is still making 40 percent of the world's products and buying half of all the world's luxury goods. Having already sacrificed environmental standards for energy-intensive industry to make the consumer goods that people in Europe and the US buy at convenience in the supermarket, the latest ministerial reforms will ensure that China can now focus on environmentally friendly manufacturing processes and green technologies in its target to maintain its exports.

Unlike Eastern Europe under Soviet rule, China's leaders are tasked with keeping the Mandate of Heaven, authority which in the end will only be sustained if they strengthen their people. For now, China's Communist leaders are doing all they can to maintain this mandate and to secure the harmonious society that secures their own future. The constitutional reforms of the National People's Congress are how they hope it will be delivered.

The author is president and vice-chancellor at University of Sheffield. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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