On course for science supremacy

The successful docking maneuvers and safe return of the Shenzhou IX capsule, together with the record depths reached by the manned submersible Jiaolong, are milestones in the continuing advance of China's technology.

It's true that many Western observers look at China's high-tech development with prejudiced eyes, and they assert that China's space and deep-sea technologies are being developed for military purposes in order to justify their claims of a "China threat".

In response to this, some Chinese scholars and scientists have pointed out that China's technology still lags far behind that of the United States and Russia. But even if the nation downplays the two high-tech programs' achievements, these voices will continue to criticize China.

The truth is, China is already a great country in terms of science and technology and it should be proud of its accomplishments.

It might lag a little behind developed countries in some technologies, but the success of high-tech programs such as its space missions and deep-sea explorations has far-reaching effects.

For a long time, there has been a biased view that Made-in-China products are cheap, labor-intensive, low quality goods.

But the country's spacecraft and submersibles reveal that China can produce high-quality advanced technology, which is essential for China's economic restructuring and industrial upgrading.

Therefore promoting these success will help the image of Chinese brands, which will eventually change Made-in-China to Create-in-China.

We should praise China's commitment to science and technology. According to the Science and Engineering Indicators 2012, which was recently released by the US National Science Foundation, China's expenditure on technology accounted for 12 percent of the world's total, second only to the United States. Last year, China's research and development spending surged 21.9 percent year-on-year to 861 billion yuan ($139.7 billion), according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The US-based Battelle Memorial Institute, the largest non-profit R&D organization in the world, released a report on global R&D investment this year, according to which China's percentage of R&D in GDP has risen from 0.6 percent in 1995 to 1.6 percent in 2011, while that of the US remained 2.7 percent.

The most recent data from World Intellectual Property Organization show China submitted more than 16,400 international patent applications in 2011, which ranks fourth in the world, and its number of international patent applications is growing at 33.4 percent a year, the fastest in the world.

Last year, the Royal Society, the UK's national science academy, published the results of its analysis of published research, one of the key measures of scientific effort, which found an "especially striking" rise in Chinese science. It predicted that China will near parity with the US and European Union as early as 2013.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) period, China's R&D personnel grew at an average rate of 7.2 percent a year, a trend that is expected to continue in the coming few years.

John P. Holdren, assistant to US President Barack Obama for science and technology, has said that China is in pole position to overtake the United States as the premier nation for scientific and technological innovation.

China's achievements are even more remarkable if we consider the situation 30 years ago. Actually, China's scientific progress has followed in the footsteps of its economic development and social innovation. It is its growing economic capacity that has provided firm support for its science and technology endeavors.

Looking back over the last three decades can only instill confidence for the future. China has already caught up with developed countries in many fields, and as long as it can maintain its economic development and will to advance its technological capabilities. China's top leaders have on numerous occasions expressed the importance of science and technology to China and it will surely become an even more powerful scientific country in the future.

The author is a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, affiliated with the Ministry of Science and Technology

(China Daily 07/02/2012 page9)