Xi leads sci-tech cooperation drive
President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, received a letter signed by 24 Hong Kong-based academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering in June last year. They expressed a strong desire to see the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region play a bigger role in the country’s innovation and technology development, and to personally contribute to this great cause. Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday that Xi, in response to the letter, had instructed central government departments to take decisive action to enhance cooperation between the mainland and HKSAR. Many measures have been taken since then and enhanced HKSARmainland cooperation in sci-tech research is progressing well.
Some people may wonder why the letter, written more than 10 months ago, and Xi’s response were only publicized now, but they really should focus on what has happened since last June. The fact is State leaders are well aware of Hong Kong’s strengths in scitech research and desire to work with the mainland in advancing the nation’s inno-tech development. Moreover, central government departments have followed Xi’s instructions quickly and effectively — and most policy adjustments and specific measures are now already in place. This is a clear indication of the central government’s intention to enhance HKSAR-mainland cooperation in boosting the nation’s sci-tech strength by encouraging and facilitating coordinated inno-tech development in the HKSAR as well as the mainland.
It is no secret that Hong Kong prides itself in many remarkable achievements in applied sci-tech research and development. There are currently 16 research laboratories in some of Hong Kong’s top universities that are partners approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology to conduct R&D projects with key State labs on the mainland. The SAR is also home to six branch centers of key State engineering centers.
All these Hong Kong-based research facilities, including the universities themselves, will benefit from increased cooperation with their mainland counterparts in pursuit of sci-tech excellence and hopefully leadership in their respective fields of academic research and application. Such cooperation will offer Hong Kong-based research institutions and talents more opportunities. They will be able to play greater roles in the nation’s sci-tech and inno-tech development, especially the Made in China 2025 program.
Sci-tech and inno-tech development is very capital-intensive and knowledge-oriented as well as extremely resource- and time-consuming. It therefore relies heavily on cooperation with other parts of the country and research institutions in other countries for better efficiency and results. However, some Western countries, led by the United States, have banned cooperation in certain sci-tech fields with China. This more often than not also adversely affects Hong Kong-based research institutions. This is another reason why Hong Kong needs to step up cooperation with the mainland in sci-tech and inno-tech development.