Introduction
The recent scientific and technological developments in China have attracted a lot of attention in the international forum. The country’s economy is growing at an extremely high rate and this means that the current advancements will surely be sustained and even made better in the future (Cooper 57).
The rate at which the country’s power is increasing with regard to science and technology has led many to conclude that China is the most powerful nation on the planet (Hughes 125).
While some people think so, others have remained skeptical about any possibility of China ever becoming a superpower in the new future. This paper aims at presenting argumentative evidence that China is indeed the most powerful nation on the planet when it comes to science and technology while at the same time analyzing the arguments of the skeptics who are against that fact.
China as the most powerful nation on the Planet in terms of Science and technology
Early technological innovations in China
With the Chinese mainland being home to the one of the oldest world civilizations, many innovations were, as a result, made in china many years before any other place (Hughes 134). Major inventions such as that of the woodblock and the movable type printing, the magnetic compass, the cast iron and the iron plough, propeller, crossbow, gunpowder among others were made in China many centuries ago (Hughes 135).
The major discoveries made in Europe came in the16th century during the scientific revolution, which was very late in relation to the inventions made in China. Science and technology had, however, stagnated in China and many years passed without any significant discoveries and inventions being made.
The condition worsened further at the formation of the People’s Republic of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong and the introduction of communism (Jasanoff 43). In other parts of the world, major scientific discoveries and inventions were being done and perfected while China stagnated.
The leadership of Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s set the pace for the current scientific and technological excellence in China. Because of this, the excellence of China and the claim of being the world’s most powerful nation can be defended through considering both the input and the out sides (Lovell 562).
China as a Science and Technology (S&T) superpower
Among the many striking “features of science and technology trends in China is the high level of commitment that the political class and the Chinese people are giving to science and technology” (Jing 5).
The elite commitment and support, as well as the popular enthusiasm, are considered a lot by those who are interpreting China’s achievements in the field and as a result award it a superpower status. In order to understand these sentiments, it is important for the modern Chinese quest in the fields of science and technology to be reflected upon briefly.
The technological superiority of the Western powers in the and Japan since the 19th century contributed to national humiliations in china which contributed to the desire by the Chinese people to venture actively into the fields of science and technology (Kong, and Agron 127). Political leaders in China since the 1920s embraced the idea that in order to achieve the dream of the ‘wealthy and powerful’ china, modern science and industry needed to be effectively developed.
Wars, revolutions and political extremism, however, constantly frustrated China’s efforts of making it globally in the fields of science and technology during the twentieth century. The last three decades have been the best period in China as far as developments in science and technology are concern.
This is mostly since the year 1978 to this day. The political stability, steady growth in the country’s economy, positive reforms in the national institutions and participation in the global forum through the productive engagements with the international society are factors that have led to the rapid growth in science and technology in China to achieve the position of the most powerful nation in the world (Kynge 214).
Within that short period, China has managed to achieve the scientific and technological development that has been elusive for over a century. Political elites, as well as the public, have played significant roles in ensuring that the conditions that have ensured the rapid growth in the status of the country and maintained and further developments made.
Among the important conditions, which both the general Chinese society and the political elites have sought to provide is financial support. The county’s spending on research and development has risen from “0.6% in the year 1996 to 1.82% in the year 2011” (Jeng 6).
This figure places China ahead of many countries that are considered powers in terms of scientific and technological developments such as Russia and the OECD countries. This spending figure places China in the class of the most superior nations of the world such as the USA and the fact that the figure is predicted to be more than 2.5% by the year 2020 means that China is expected to top the chart (Jeng 7).
The fact that china exhibits high levels of “cultivation of human resources and the support of science education” (Jing 15) is proof that China stands as the most powerful nation in the world (Jing 14). Because of this, there is an apparent wealth of talent in China. For instance, a survey conducted in China in the year 2006 revealed that, among the 1.5 million workers in china, 1.2 million of them were scientists and engineers (Jing 15).
In addition, there were about eight million students in the institutions of higher learning. Most of them took science and technology courses such as engineering, medicine, agriculture among others. During the same year, about 20,000 doctorates in the fields of science and engineering were offered which by then placed China in the third position after the US and Russia (Jing 15). The ‘Science Diaspora’ and the ‘brain circulation’ programs have played a significant role in the development of science and technology in China.
There are programs that encourage the interaction of the Chinese scientists with those working at home to “ensure that the science industry in China is at par with the rest of the world” (Jing 15). A conglomeration of these trends has resulted to the transformation of Science and technology industry in China making it younger, results oriented, very productive and extremely cosmopolitan an inline with the world’s prevailing trends in science and technology.
The elite commitment in the revitalization of science and technology institutions has ensured that China claims the recently highly ranked position on the planet as far as science and technology is concerned (Jaime 2). Hundreds of government research institutes have been reorganized and underpinned, therefore, revitalizing the R&D in the business sector (Jaime 2).
For instance, in the recent times, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been strengthened as part of the Knowledge Innovation Program (KIP). Chinese universities have been reoriented to assume a global outlook, therefore, becoming very important centers of science and technology excellence. The Chinese government has also made massive reforms in the county’s economic policies, therefore, making it possible for foreign investors and multi-national organizations to establish R&D activities in the country (Jeng 12).
These activities have resulted to the widening of the Chinese technical community to a point whereby it has claimed excellence. In fact, the existing R&D activities in China that are sponsored by multi-nationals and foreign investors were more than 1200 by the year 2008 (Jeng 12). These commitments by the MNCs have reinforced the role of China as a very important ‘node of innovation’ in the global arena.
The introduction of the MLP in the year 2006 marks another important effort of the political elite in China in an effort to achieve and sustain power in the fields of science and technology (Li, and Richard 22). The plans have been since then considered as a manifesto aimed at supporting the Science and Technology superpower status that the Chinese Republic currently enjoys.
The plan also advocates for China to become an “innovation oriented society” by the wake of 2020 (Kong, and Agron 130). By such time, it has been predicted that China will have significantly reduced its reliance on foreign technological expertise and will, as a result, be an independent leader in science and engineering.
With most of the above claims being in the form of inputs that have ensured that China is considered a global leader in terms of science of technology, there are other claims in the form of the outputs or the achievements that China has done so far which acts as proof of its leadership (Suttmejer 320). Among the major outputs or the significant technological achievements, which China has made so far is its space program.
These achievements have brought China in the lime light as one among the few nations of the world that have mustered the sophisticated technologies and integrated them into a complex system. China recently launched the unmanned Tiangong- 1 or the ‘Heavenly Palace’ from China’s Jiuquan Launch Centre (Jaime 22). This marked one of the most significant achievements of China’s technological and scientific ambitions.
By the year 2007, China was the world’s leading technocracy (a nation ruled by engineers and scientists who hold the belief that it is only through achieving new technologies that the country can achieve social and economic progress) (Kong, and Agron 135). The innovation system employed by the Chinese may be having its shortcomings, but the fact remains that it has excelled greatly through the rapid resource mobilization.
Most of those who doubt the quality of the Chinese inventions are simply skeptic and engulfed in ignorance according to Yang (21). This is because their doubts are continuously being proven wrong through the highest quality and they are simply finding others to keep the arguments going ahead.
The rapid increase in patenting activities in China is another proof that it is the most powerful nation on the planet with regard to scientific and technological innovations. In fact, the country ranks highest when it comes to the production of scientific literature such as SCI indexed papers, EI and ISTP papers (Wong 14). Scientific research and development has produced the best and the most reliable results in China recently considering the rate at which reports of such research activities have inspired new inventions.
China has also achieved leadership when it comes to the high-technology exports, which also serve as proof that the nation has already achieved the superpower status. In addition to this, China’s domestic market has growth substantially with the penetration of IT suggesting the powerful market pull that will definitely trigger domestic innovations.
The Chinese society has become connected by the latest information technology more than any other society in the world. In the wake of 2010, China scientists developed the world’s fastest supercomputer as well as the fastest train (Yang 26).
Most of the criticism that the superpower thesis in China faces from skeptics is based on the questions concerning the quality of the research and development ventures that China has indulged in (Yang 12). Most of the critics argue from the grounds of whether or not the money that is used to fund the research and development activities in China is being well spent.
The government ensures that there is unquestionable transparency in accounting for the money that is intended to benefit the Chinese technical community. Commissions are formed that ensure that the money is utilized for the planned purposes and the success of such commissions can be seen through the success that the ventures are achieving especially through the output (Yang 36).
In a variety of measures, the achievements that China has made in science and technology within the past thirty years are impressive (Sigurdson 569). Political leaders in China, as opposed to those of other nations in the world who have the ambition of seeing their countries to achieving the prestige of science superpowers, pay a close attention to issues concerning research and development.
Scientific and technological achievements in China are celebrated by the media more than any other place in the world with makes the entire society to feel like part of the scientific innovations. This fosters a sense of national pride and loyalty among the local people who subsequently strive to achieve more and more (Schwaag 67).
China in the year 2010 made the most powerful and responsible statement in the world as far as the environment conservation efforts are concerned by investing more money in the production of clean energy. China hit a record of $54.4 billion for the manufacture of wind turbines, solar energy units and other forms of clean technology (Jeng 26).
Conserving the environment while the other powerful nations of the world are just increasing the carbon footprint is a major achievement that with no doubt places China above all other nations that claim power in the fields of science and technology in the world. In addition, GE recently made an investment of $2 billion dollars with China in an effort to develop more “environment friendly technologies and open up more job opportunities in the country” (Jeng 28).
Since the emergence of stem cell research in the 1990s, China has been active in the venture. The potential research aimed at coming up with treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and tissue repair (Ho 239). There are currently more than 400 researchers and Chinese experts working in that field now.
These experts are spread over in over thirty institutions in the country, which provides proof of China as the nation, which has so far shown the biggest support and improvement for the research (Zing 259). There have been notable achievements so far such as the successful cloning of animal species such as cattle, goats as well as the first ever successful cloning of a rat. There have been established a network of cord blood stem banks in the whole country for both research and clinical use (Ho 243).
With China being the largest nation in the world with respect to its human population, it is best placed considering the large workforce and the ready market for the technological and scientific inventions. As argued by Farrell (30), globalization results in the cities and regions competing forever over smaller niches.
The most striking aspects of science and innovation strategies of both the Guangzhou and Shenzhen are based on how the two build the existing niches. They do this by concentrating more on how they apply science to processing and manufacturing rather than on basic science. This is generally inspired by the desire to satisfy the needs of the populations with affordable consumer products. As a result, the different science and technology cities of China have specialized in different avenues, which reduce the conflicts of interest.
Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have concentrated on basic science while others such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen concentrating entirely on the production of consumer products (Zing 458). This ensures that efforts aimed at achieving excellence from all perspectives are carried along at the same time. For instance, the two-telecom companies in Shenzhen: Huawei and ZTE are becoming serious contenders in the global telecoms arena while at the same time striving to satisfy the needs of the local community (Aho 3).
Conclusion
China has testified to the world that it deserves the title of the world’s most powerful nation when it comes to science and technology. This follows the commitment that research and development activities have received in china from both the political elite and the technical community. Other outstanding inputs that China has made in developing and sustaining science and development are above what other nations of the world have done so far or are willing to do in the near future (Jeng 30).
The most notable of this is the recent record that China set with regard to the investment it made in the development of clean energy and technology. The other countries of the world instead insist on using organic oils, therefore, increasing carbon footprint. China has set the pace for the other nations who dream of making it in the future of technology to follow (Schwaag 69).
The rapid growth in the fields of science and technology as evidenced by the most recent achievements in space science prove china’s leadership when it comes to the sophisticated science (Minder 238). The quality of Chinese innovations is par the world standards considering that most of the Chinese scientists and experts were trained in other nations in Europe and America that earlier claimed leadership in the innovations (Jeng 31).
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