6 min readSep 2, 2026 06:30 AM IST First published on: Sep 2, 2026 at 06:20 AM ISTBehind the riot of robots running, dancing and playing at Beijing’s second World Humanoid Games last week is an ambitious Chinese project to turn China into the world’s leading science power. This ambition is rooted in President Xi Jinping’s call to fully mobilise “new quality productive forces” being unleashed by the current revolutions in science and technology. Xi is convinced that China’s next phase of growth cannot rely on cheap labour, large-scale manufacturing, infrastructure and capital accumulation. It must come from innovation.AI is central to Xi’s strategy. Beijing’s objective is to diffuse AI across the physical economy — robotics, machine tools, automobiles, biotechnology, materials, energy, agriculture and scientific research. China’s manufacturing depth is its advantage. Beijing is betting that fusing digital intelligence with the world’s largest industrial ecosystem will make China the leading technological power.