Thread by Jordan Schneider

twitter.com
1 Recommender
1 Mention
Recommend
Post
Save
Complete
Collect
Thread
The CCP's top science official is scared for the future of S&T in China.

ChinaTalk translated key excerpts from his recent speech on why he thinks the US has a good shot at containing China's tech rise
A THREAD
China Assoc. of Science and Technology (CAST) is the umbrella professional org for S&T workers. Primarily, it maintains CCP presence in China's STEM sectors.

Before becoming CAST's Party Secretary, Zhang Yuzhou was a business exec, coal scientist, and Tianjin Politburo-er.
Zhang says that US containment is hurting China in 5 ways:

1. Strategy: the US is funding its R&D better to improve competitiveness - the CHIPS Act worries China;

2. Precision: China notices that US containment is getting better at hurting specific companies/industries/regions;
3. Talent: Zhang cites this @CNASdc report and says that Biden's immigration policies are attracting the best S&T talent to the US [if only!]
www.cnas.org/publications/reports/taking-the-helm-a-national-technology-strategy-to-meet-the-china-ch...
4. Coalitions: China is concerned about closer EU-US relations and decoupling via IPEF cutting China out of the global tech ecosystem
www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/understanding-ipef-and-how-it-counters-chinas-clout/2022/05/26...
5. My personal favorite: "Morality": Zhang says the US is politicizing technology by bundling it with democracy and human rights.
He thinks China is losing on the int'l reputation front, because US influence is encouraging people to associate Chinese S&T with authoritarianism, IP theft, Covid...
Zhang doesn't only blame the US. He outlines how Chinese S&T is falling short:

- Few original breakthroughs;

- Lack of corporate leadership in innovation;

- Disconnect between industry and academia;

- Persistent credentialism and exclusivity culture;

- Overburdened workers.
Politically, he calls on S&T workers to "take the mass line online": bringing cyberspace monitoring into government decision-making.

Zhang heavily quotes Xi throughout: "without passing the Internet hurdle, we can not pass the hurdle of long-term governance."
So what's CAST gonna do about all this?

1. Focus: Zhang wants real "paths" to political leadership for S&T workers and unity around Party apparatuses.

He highlights "Scientist Spirit" 科学家精神 — an interesting sub-narrative in Party history propaganda: scitech.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0915/c1007-31861504.html
2. Reforming academia: Zhang thinks that regional inequality and cumbersome internal governance are hurting innovation.

He wants to strengthen CAST associations around the country, and promote successful ones into leading independent organizations.
3. Strengthening grassroots: China needs an S&T talent pipeline.

Notably, Zhang wants CAST to build "an authoritative, dynamic, and high-volume science and technology talent bank within 3 years, in order to achieve one centralized talent bank at the 10-million level".
4. Openness: Domestically, Zhang wants better CAST coverage and S&T outreach across provinces and resource chains.

Internationally, he calls on Chinese S&T to enthusiastically promote people-to-people S&T exchange. ...
Including via UN SDGs and environmental initiatives.

He wants more top journals, scientific organizations, and forums to be based out of China — echoing Xi, he wants to build international S&T orgs for "the community of common destiny for mankind"
chinamediaproject.org/the_ccp_dictionary/community-of-common-destiny-for-mankind/
It's a rare peek into the top of Chinese S&T governance. 3 key takeaways:

1. US containment is having real impacts;

2. Outdated systems are hampering China's innovation... but that could change;

3. China is pro-global exchange — so long as it stays away from politics, somehow.
Check out ChinaTalk's full translation here www.chinatalk.media/p/top-ccp-scientist-diagnoses-chinas
Thanks to @irenearz for her work on the translation and thread!
Mentions
See All