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Issues in Science and Technology Online Article

In response to an article in the National Academy of Sciences Issues Online by Alexander P. De Angelis entitled Don't "Dis" Chinese Science, Provost Denis Fred Simon wrote the following, which can also be found here.

by Dr. Denis Fred Simon

Alexander P. De Angelis certainly got it right in his commentary about the sluggishness of the U.S. government in responding in a concerted fashion to the emerging technological prowess of China. Almost three decades have elapsed since the signing of the original Sino-U.S. bilateral agreement for cooperation in science and technology (S&T). It seems that while Washington has tended to view the S&T cooperative accords as the "icing on the cake" in terms of America's relations with China, the Chinese have viewed S&T cooperation with the United States as the cake itself! Since the visit of Deng Xiaoping to the United States in 1979, the Chinese leadership has seen the country's growing international S&T relations in very strategic terms; since the full launch of the "open policy" in the early 1980s, S&T ties with countries such as the United States and Japan have been treated as an essential ingredient in China's efforts to close the prevailing technological gap between itself and the industrialized nations as represented in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In contrast to the impression left by some current observers of China (both inside and outside the U.S. government), however, there has not been nor is there now a Chinese conspiracy or hidden agenda lurking beneath the surface of China's stated foreign policy initiatives or S&T policies. The Beijing government has made it clear to the outside world since the announcement of the so-called "four modernizations" in the late 1970s that advances in S&T were the key to the modernization of agriculture, industry, and national defense in China. In addition, the leadership has made no secret of its interest in importing foreign scientific and technical knowledge to upgrade national R&D capabilities in universities, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and industrial enterprises. The fact that few, if any, took the Chinese stated intentions seriously until the past 3 or 4 years is an error of omission that may yet come back to haunt the United States as the Chinese march ahead in their quest to join the world's leading nations at the frontiers of scientific discovery and technological innovation.

Perhaps the best example of missed opportunities was the withdrawal of direct government support for the U.S. China Management Training Center in Dalian in the mid-1980s. With the U.S. Department of Commerce as the lead agency, the United States had been a leader in working with the Chinese to inaugurate one of the first bilateral programs focused specifically on management education for China's emerging new enterprise and government leadership. However, it seems that neither the Congress nor the Commerce Department was about to come up with the $80,000 to $100,000 needed to continue the program, and thus after several successful years it almost collapsed. Were it not for the vision of the management school at the State University of New York at Buffalo, which took over the running and financing of the program at the point of its near demise, the entire effort might have simply disappeared. Today, whereas the European Union (EU) has spearheaded the founding and supported the operation of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and has helped to make it into to one of the finest management schools in the Asia-Pacific region, the United States is conspicuous by the fact that it lacks a similarly supported institution in China.

Of course, there are a large number of scientific exchanges and cooperative R&D projects taking place through universities and other private auspices in the context of the overall expanding ties between the United States and China over the past several decades. The benefits of these ties in terms of building trust and confidence between and among members of the Chinese and American scientific and engineering communities should not be ignored. But, as De Angelis suggests, the U.S. government does not seem to recognize the enormous opportunities that exist for win-win outcomes by building stronger and deeper S&T collaboration with China. As a result, the United States no longer seems to be at the top of the Chinese list of preferred bilateral partners. On a recent trip to Beijing this year, I was told quite explicitly that "the United States is now number 4, below the EU, Russia, and other international S&T organizations in terms of S&T cooperation." Moreover, a young Chinese official speaking quite candidly confided in me that she had aggressively sought to work in the government department concerned with U.S. S&T cooperation, because in the past it had been a fast-track path to career advancement. To her great chagrin, however, that no longer seemed to be the case because of the unmet expectations from the limited nature of bilateral S&T cooperation with the United States.

Now, some may cheer that this is all to the good because the United States seems to have protected its "crown jewels" in terms of scientific and technological assets. However, the reality is that China's S&T system continues to move ahead with its plans to strengthen indigenous innovation, build world-class universities, and revitalize organizations such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences through important initiatives such as the Knowledge Innovation Program (KIP). Don't get me wrong - many problems continue to persist across the S&T landscape in China, such as the country's still-immature regime for protecting intellectual property and the shortage of experienced managerial talent to operate China's growing number of R&D and engineering centers. Nonetheless, in a world of globalization, where national systems of innovation are giving way to a more global system of new knowledge creation and commercialization, collaboration and cooperation have become the new hallmarks of success. The fact that there are now over 750 foreign corporate R&D centers in China is testimony to the fact that the private sector in the United States and abroad understands this and is not shy about pursuing access to China's brainpower as a way to enhance their own innovation potential. It is time for the U.S. government to move its attention from the icing and on to the cake, and to find ways to strengthen the potential for broader and more sustainable engagement in the S&T field with China. This means cultivating a cohort of specialists on S&T policy and programs in China as well as offering a more coherent vision, stronger leadership, and greater funding from the White House and Congress as we seek to figure out the precise parameters of the Sino-U.S. relationship in the years ahead.