China, the aspiring scientific
superpower By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - Celebrated as the inventor of
development milestones such as the compass and
printing, China is aspiring to become a global
player in science and technology in the 21st
century, casting off decades of neglect of
academia and political persecution of
intellectuals.
A leading British
think-tank predicted this month that China is on
the way to becoming a scientific superpower,
thanks to the massive increase in its spending on
research and a trend for
scientists to return home from
abroad.
"The center of gravity of
innovation has started moving from the West to the
East," the newly released report by the
London-based Demos, "The Atlas of Ideas: Mapping
the New Geography of Science", says. It goes on to
warn that the pre-eminence of the United States
and Europe in scientific innovation can no longer
be taken for granted.
The Demos report is
not the first to pinpoint China's efforts at
reviving its scientific capabilities. A recent
study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) claimed that in 2006 China
had overtaken Japan as the world's third-largest
spender on research and development (R&D)
after the United States and the European Union,
spending a total of US$136 billion.
The
drive to implement the concept of "scientific
development" has indeed become one of the tenets
of China's top leadership in recent years.
President Hu Jintao has called on China to
transform itself into an "innovative country" by
2020. The government's target for China is to
establish itself as a scientific powerhouse is
2050.
The top leadership's ambitious
agenda has resonated with the public. A recent
television documentary broadcast by China Central
Television, The Rise of the Great Nations,
received high rates of approval for showcasing
innovation as a key element in creating a
superpower.
"We need to undo the influence
of our Confucian heritage in thinking that
dutifully pursuing knowledge is everything," wrote
an anonymous netizen on an Internet forum. "The
examples of the US and Japan show that only by
fully embracing technology and science can a
country achieve great power."
Optimistic
projections aside, in terms of concrete scientific
achievements China's figures are less impressive.
In 2005, China ranked No 10 globally in the number
of international patent applications filed,
according to the World Intellectual Property
Organization. The same year China spent only $30
billion on R&D.
Experts believe the
surge in research spending in 2006 reported by the
OECD is partly tied to foreign companies moving
some of their research operations to China, and to
the fact that a lot of research talent and advance
equipment is internationally mobile.
Chinese government officials have tried
for years to persuade multinationals to invest in
local research sites but these efforts have been
hampered by the weakness of China's
intellectual-property-protection regime. The
United States has complained for years and
recently threatened a World Trade Organization
copyright case against Chinese companies producing
illegal optical disks and computer software.
Nevertheless, government pledges to
support scientific development and improve
standards of intellectual-property protection have
succeeded in persuading a range of multinationals,
in telecommunications and computer industries in
particular, to site their research centers in
China. Last year many pharmaceutical
multinationals such as Pfizer, Roche, Novartis and
Bayer announced they were also forging ahead with
research initiatives in China.
The trend
of outsourcing R&D to China is expected to
continue, with the country poised to become the
second-largest if not the largest market for cars,
mobile phones and other products.
The
rising number of multinational research centers,
the steady return of Chinese scientists from
abroad, and the growing pool of China's own
university graduates are seen as some of the
factors that will determine China's emergence as a
scientific superpower, according to the Demos
report.
"Beijing's university district
alone has as many engineers as all of Western
Europe, and you can imagine how dynamic the
potential is," James Wildson, co-author of the
Demos report, was quoted by the official China
Daily.
The Chinese leadership has unveiled
plans to boost investment in scientific R&D to
900 billion yuan ($116 billion) by 2020. By then,
Beijing hopes research spending will account for
2.5% of gross domestic product.
Though
China's spending on R&D has increased by 20% a
year since 1999, much of the research is tied to
developing items for domestic consumers, not
scientific breakthroughs. A few high-tech sectors
such as space technology and biotechnology have
benefited from high-level government support.
The Demos report warns that China's rigid
institutional system and unreformed educational
system could also hamper China's long-term
scientific progress. China's education relies
heavily on memorization and fosters little
critical thinking.
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