Country assimilates into international scientific community by making innovative leaps
From world-leading basic research to award-winning innovations and ideas, from the successful landing of the Chang'e-4 lunar probe on the dark side of the moon, to the launching of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System's global service... The world is now looking to China when it comes to science and technology development.
China is receiving more attention and applause, as it not only follows, but also keeps pace with, and sometimes even leads the world's elite in scientific and technological innovation.
In the field of basic research, the quantum anomalous Hall effect was highlighted as a new way to help accelerate the development of low-power consumption electronics.
The discovery is an important boost to human scientific knowledge by Chinese physicists, said Xue Qikun, a professor at Tsinghua University and a Chinese Academy of Sciences academician, after the project he led won the State Natural Science Award.
China's research in hightemperature superconductivity in iron-based materials, photon entanglement and interferometry are at the world's top level, and major facilities like the five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope nicknamed “Tianyan,” and the neutrino facility of Dayawan Nuclear Power Plant are also renowned. In the field of applied technology, many eye-catching super projects keep advancing, including manned space programs and supercomputing research.
China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System started its global service at the end of 2018, benefiting countries like Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, Pakistan and Indonesia in land planning, pest detection, urban construction, mapping and more.
“We need China,” said Gary Sanders, project manager of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). “And China needs global partners. Its technical strength and research plans are well recognized internationally.”
The TMT is a cooperative project among the US, Canada, China, India and Japan. In the past 10 years, the Chinese technical team has signed 24 agreements for technology and research work packages, and provided funds and materials worth over 20 million US dollars for the project.
Jean-Eric Paquet, directorgeneral of the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, praised some “high quality” cooperation with the Chinese side, saying things are different from the past, when Chinese researchers joined their projects only to gain experience.
China and other international partners are welcome to cooperate in Horizon Europe, the European Union's planned 100-billion-euro ($114-billion) scientific research initiative, said Paquet, expressing the hope that the initiative would bring Sino-Europe science and technology cooperation to a new level.