China Expected to Set New Encryption Standards Within 3 Years, Expert Predicts

A leading Chinese expert says the country will establish national standards for advanced encryption technology within three years as governments worldwide race to protect data from future quantum computers. China has prioritized quantum technology in its latest five-year plan and is taking a different approach than the U.S. and other nations.

A prominent Chinese cryptography expert predicts the nation will establish national standards for advanced encryption technology within the next three years as Beijing increases investment in quantum research.

Nations across the globe are working rapidly to create new encryption methods that can withstand attacks from future quantum computers, which could be powerful enough to break today’s security systems.

Beijing’s latest five-year plan, unveiled recently, designated quantum technology as a key strategic industry for the future, placing it alongside artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion, and brain-computer interfaces. The plan also sets a target for building a scalable quantum computer.

The United States completed its initial post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024 and has set a target of complete industry transition by 2035. Meanwhile, China issued an international request for new standards proposals last year.

Wang Xiaoyun, a professor at Tsinghua University’s Institute for Advanced Study, identified finance and energy as the key sectors that should transition first to the new encryption methods due to their sensitive data requirements.

“I personally think that the next three-to-five-year period is potentially one of explosive growth for post-quantum cryptography industry migration (in China),” she stated during the National People’s Congress parliamentary sessions in Beijing, which wrapped up recently.

Chinese researchers have taken a different path than their international counterparts in the U.S. and other countries, focusing on “structureless lattice” algorithms such as S-Cloud+.

Wang explained that global standards built on algebraic lattices “have some degree of security degradation,” while “structureless cryptographic algorithms basically do not have this problem.”

State media reported last month that China released its first domestically-developed quantum computer operating system as open source software available for public download.

Technology giants including Google have called on governments to speed up the adoption of post-quantum cryptography. The Trump administration’s recently released cyber strategy commits to maintaining American leadership in both post-quantum cryptography and artificial intelligence.

South Korea has announced plans to deploy post-quantum cryptography across multiple industries by 2035, beginning with a pilot program from 2025-2028 that will focus on critical sectors including energy and healthcare.