Scientists relying on foreign technology

BEIJING - China spends billions of dollars importing high-end scientific instruments every year, and its global competitiveness in manufacturing this technology is dwindling, a survey has found.

Conducted by Peking University and the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and the National Science Library, the survey found that in some sectors scientists rely 100 percent on imported high-end instruments.

Importing these high-end instruments, including DNA sequencers and particle colliders, cost several billion US dollars in 2009, an increase of 30 percent on the previous year, the report found, without specifying an exact figure.