This paper argues that perspectives characterizing the trajectory of China's economic reforms as “reversing course” are misleading by not recognizing the current stage of Chinese industrial development and the policy initiatives adopted to steer the country towards widely-stated national objectives. As such, the paper aims to contribute to the growing analysis of lessons learned from China's development experience by highlighting the evolving nature of institutional mechanisms and policy instruments in banking and finance, industry and technology to promote learning and to deepen independent national productive capacities as part of a concerted “big push” by domestic firms up the economic value chain in strategic sectors.
The paper begins by first analyzing the key lessons learned (positive and negative) from China outlined by three recent World Bank working papers, before addressing the key oversight of these works, in setting out China's institutional 'toolbox' of policy instruments behind its ambitious, yet evolving, WTO-tailored industrial policy strategy.