US technology embargo list gives China a blueprint for home-grown innovation over the next decade, top science official says
- Beijing’s upcoming five-year plan for the nation will detail technology ambitions, outlining areas and products that it must take into its own hands
- President of top science institution says China must ‘concentrate all of our resources’ to avoid falling behind in technological advancements
China’s top science and technology official says the central government is viewing Washington’s list of embargoed or controlled technologies to China as an outline for what to focus on over the next decade, reflecting Beijing’s strategy of enhancing domestic research to cut reliance on American technologies.
“The US’ technological containment list will be our mission for scientific and technological development,” Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
The aim is to avoid “being strangled” technologically, he said. “We must focus on core technologies, key materials, techniques and basic algorithms, and take the initiative in areas such as mask aligners [which produce integrated circuits], tyres [for aircraft] and high-end chips.”
Bai’s academy is at forefront of China’s efforts to utilise all of the country’s scientific resources to counter the United States. In 2018, it initiated so-called Category C projects, defined as those in collaboration with enterprises to circumvent technology containment efforts, such as in supercomputing systems and cybersecurity.
We’ll focus on areas that the country is concerned with the most and concentrate all of our resources
Five projects were started last year, focusing on computer chips and software, electromagnetic technology, high-end bearing steel, and multilingual audio research.
