The Chinese military must increase the private sector’s role in research to prevent Western sanctions from “strangling” the country’s efforts at defence innovation, a top official of the People’s Liberation Army has urged. Zhang Zhan, political commissar of the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT), said China’s hi-tech industries were facing a “grim and complex” situation as the United States and its allies intensified their campaign to curb access to technology. “[Western] technical