Sino-US scientific cooperation needs to continue

As the Sino-U.S. diplomatic relations escalate, the bilateral scientific cooperation is under strong criticism and scrutiny. Various conspiracies are adding oil to the fire to stir up confrontations between the two superpowers. Intellectual property theft and allegations of technological espionage are one of the most compelling and prevalent concerns. Most recently, some U.S officials touted some Chinese entities, both state-sponsored and private, as having engaged in AI theft and espionage to accelerate China’s technological development. This cliché brings negative impacts to harmonious scientific cooperation between the two nations, and is a new challenge to overcome for Americans to build a greater America.

Why China steals

Put simply, what the U.S has, China does not. Also, China has limited resources – particularly a lack of talent and innovation. Moreover, as the world factory, China does not take its current arrangement for granted. As the competition and challenges from other manufacturing bases increase, China feels the pressure. As a result, China acts broadly to improve its overall production performances. Otherwise, Chinese manufacturers would be phased out by the market without mercy. Accordingly, China closely watches world cutting-edge technologies and updates its assembly lines to supply to the global market state-of-the-art products. As a result, I do believe some Chinese individuals and entities have had elusive dreams to make them bigger and stronger through disgraceful means, including stealing.

Stealing doesn’t make China great

In 2020, the FBI registered over 1,000 cases of intellectual property theft in connection with Chinese individuals. Ranked as the second largest economy, and a world factory with a huge number of work forces, one thousand individuals is not a threatening digit. Involved individuals and entities may benefit from theft in the short run, but cannot strengthen a big country like China. In other words, stealing cannot boost China to grow into the second largest economy, and cannot meet and provide China’s science and technology development demands.

Besides, stealing stifles inner innovation and dynamic growth. China is still the main exporter of low-end commodities; high-end products are owned by multinationals who authorize assembly in China. Accordingly, we see a rather small number of Chinese brands that go global.

Contrary to incitement to steal or covering up intellectual property theft, Chinese authority advocates and cooperates with United States law enforcement. As a result, multinationals have confidence to invest in China, including prestigious U.S companies and brands.

In addition, China invests enormously in universities and institutes to incubate its own technologies. The Ministry of Science and Technology recently reported that the capital injected to research was over $400 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

For the most contested AI technology, Deloitte’s report demonstrates substantial development in China. It surpassed the United States for published articles in 2014. Capital investments jumped from $6 billion in 2015 to $25 billion in 2020, and the number of enterprises increased from 1,000 in 2017 to 5,000 in 2020.

Americans should not be scared by China’s progress

As we all know, China has made tremendous progress in hi-tech industries and scientific innovations. However, they have been minor changes, are good for industry processing and market selling, and it is nearly impossible to challenge the fundamental and profound creations made by Americans. The United States is the dominant power in the world innovation industry.

We should pay less attention to the consumption of goods made by cheap labor in China, and more attention to the top well-known brands and leading international companies. For Forbes 500 companies, though the United States has fewer companies listed compared to a few years ago, revenue is higher compared to their Chinese counterparts. Chinese companies are mainly state-owned and operate as a monopoly. Whereas the private hi-tech industry in the U.S is larger and continues to play a dominant role in innovation.

In addition, if we check the world’s top universities, the gap is huge between the two nations. For the top 100 universities, nearly half are American schools, while China has only two. American universities can educate and train far more talented graduates than China does.

Protection is the biggest enemy for a greater America

America is great because it is the world’s melting pot. People from all corners of the world contribute their talents, and there has been an unparalleled advantage to make a great United States. This momentum remains, and is even accelerating.

At first appearance, protectionism secures individuals and national interests. However, it has the same effect as stealing, which will hurt innovation and competition. Modern science and technology develop at an accelerated speed. Scientists are excited to share and publish their findings, and announce their achievements in real time. Therefore, scientists can make further inventions. It is the most vigorous way to keep America safe. To keep innovation in the coffer is a self-fool tactic and ruins competitiveness.

The U.S. and China’s mutually-beneficial cooperation

Application that benefits human beings is the ultimate end of scientific innovation. Through bilateral collaboration, the United States and China have formed a win-win partnership – a dynamic innovative system in the United States, and a vigorous processing system in China.

China is the prime place for the application of U.S scientific and technological breakthroughs. China is a potential market, and is also a world manufacturing base with a hard working labor force. The industrial and entrepreneurial Chinese people trust U.S. innovations and technologies, and are willing to take the first step for utilization and marketization.

As a result of cooperation, China has successfully lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. All the while, the United States has remained as the innovative hub. A more confident and open America can coexist with China, and would boost the prosperity of both nations.