Suppression cannot stop China's scientific and technological innovation

Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language "Commentaries on International Affairs".

Chinese Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, Tu Youyou, announced on Monday that her team has been able to figure out solutions to the problem of artemisinin resistance. The research paper, published in the April issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, is a new contribution Chinese scientists have made to improve global health governance.

Nobel Prize winner in medicine Tu Youyou [File Photo: IC]

Thanks to the long-term and painstaking research by hundreds-of-thousands of scientific and technical workers like Tu Youyou, China has achieved significant scientific and technological advancements over the past few decades. It's these achievements that are confounding and frightening certain people in the United States. Instead of focusing on how to improve their own scientific and technological competitiveness, some remain obsessed with fabricating and disseminating rumors about China's achievements.

Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, recently brought this to the forefront, slandering China by saying "China has pioneered a societal approach to stealing innovation in any way it can, from a wide array of businesses, universities and organizations." Most recently, the U.S. side has been using the excuse of "national security" to obstruct Chinese students from studying in the States, restrict Chinese companies from entering the U.S. market, block Chinese companies such as Huawei from expanding on the U.S. market, and manipulate a handful of U.S. companies into severing supplies to their Chinese counterparts. Some have gone as far as advocating a decoupling from China in the field of technology so that the United States can permanently retain its top position in technology and the industry value chain.

The cover story of the June 13th issue of Bloomberg Business says that due to concerns over China "stealing" its intellectual property and cutting-edge technology, the United States is purging Chinese cancer scientists from its top institutions, even though there has been no evidence of espionage. The article provides further proof that the United States, having been worshipped at the altar of technology for too long, is no longer able to adapt to open and inclusive competition. It is upset, fearful and lacks confidence, especially in the fields where its technologies have been surpassed by others. With the America First policy and the zero-sum mindset, the United States has ditched moral principles, as well as international law and rules, allowing only U.S. development and hindering others from progressing.

However, no one can block or suppress China's scientific and technological march forward. Even in the 1960s and 1970s, when the country was in economic turmoil and isolated by the West, it still managed to successfully test its first atomic and hydrogen bombs, as well as launch its first satellite. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, thousands of Chinese scientists and technicians, through mutually beneficial international cooperation, have explored a road of independent innovation, to solve the common problems faced by mankind: The discovery and extraction of artemisinin has helped cure millions of malaria patients in Africa; the advent of hybrid rice has solved food security problems for hundreds of millions of people around the world; the launch of the world's first quantum communication satellite 'Mozi', also known as 'Micius', is considered the first step toward building a globally secure communications network; the successful landing of the Chang'e 4 lunar probe on the far side of the moon will help humans better understand our faithful satellite. At the recent St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, President Xi Jinping noted that China is willing to share its latest scientific research achievements, including the next generation of wireless technology, 5G. The Chinese leader has suggested this will help the entire world create a new competitiveness and transform economic growth models.

China now has a talent pool of over 170 million highly educated and highly-skilled people. Chinese investment in research and development ranks second in the world. The volume of Chinese patent applications and authorized patents now tops the world. China maintains an open and inclusive attitude toward global science and technology cooperation, which will never be contained by American scientific and technological hegemony. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently suggested "We have to accept that the US cannot forever be the supreme nation in the world that can have the best technology in the world."

Isaac Newton once said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." Science and technology is the crystallization of human civilization, with openness and tolerance being the core of its progress. The scientific and technological achievements made in the United States are based on continual innovations achieved by their forerunners, particularly during the Second World War, and decades thereafter when a large number of top scientists poured into the country. The U.S. was once a country which advocated and thrived on a concept of science without borders, and grew rapidly to become the world's center for scientific innovation.

But this is a time that some in today's United States have forgotten. They would rather block and suppress technological progress in other countries. Such a countercurrent approach will only encourage other countries to advance their own science and technology. And as those countries begin to catch up and surpass the United States, today's call for technological hegemony in the U.S. may one day find the country isolated and left behind.