ASU grandly holds an academic conference focusing on China: The role of science and technology in China’s international relations

ASU grandly holds an academic conference focusing on China: The role of science and technology in China’s international relations – China Overseas...

– The transformation of China’s new overseas image: Labor-intensive – Technology-intensive. On April 3-4, 2014, the conference “The Role of Science and Technology in China’s International Relations” was held grandly at Arizona State University. The two-day conference consisted of more than 40 scholars and government staff from China, the United States, Russia, Australia, Japan and other countries. China's scientific and technological development has changed the world's view of China: China is no longer a big country exporting cheap labor. In just ten years of development, it has become a high-tech, labor-intensive country. Scientific and technological cooperation has played a very important role in the establishment of China's international relations.

ASU Vice President Dr. Dennis Simon

Meeting site ASU Vice President Dr. Dennis Simon, the main person in charge of this meeting, said that when he started studying China thirty years ago, his teachers, friends, and family members all thought that he was a person who was not doing his job properly and had nothing to do. Thirty years later he was a popular figure in America. Microsoft, Intel, and other well-known international companies have hired him as a consultant on China issues. The Chinese government also hired him as an expert in university evaluation, and he has facilitated a large number of Sino-US cooperation. However, in his eyes, all this was just the beginning. He used a series of data to illustrate the changes: from 2006 to 2010, China made rapid progress in applied science and technology research; from 2006 to 2010, university cooperation became one of the fastest growing forms of cooperation in science and technology; in 1996, China's share of the world's high-tech fields was much lower than that of the United States, the European Union, and Japan. By 2006, China tied the United States and tied for first place. Professor Dennis said that the development of China's science and technology will bring new opportunities to the world. If we fail to seize China's development, we will fail to grasp the pulse of the world. Professor Sun Fuquan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences who participated in the meeting introduced the overview of China's international science and technology relations. Wang Zhongcheng from the China Science and Technology Exchange Center also gave a detailed introduction to the organizational structure of China's international cooperation system from the central to the local levels. What excites people is always related to talent. Professor Wang Huiyao, director of the China and Globalization Think Tank, introduced the "wave of overseas returnees" in recent years, demonstrating the superior treatment and entrepreneurial opportunities provided by the Chinese government and local governments to overseas returnees. The return of these personnel will provide more high-quality human resources for international cooperation. This is also an important symbol of China's transformation from cheap labor-intensive human resources to technology-intensive human resources. Wonderful things are always produced in collisions. During the question-and-answer session, Professor Beilei Fan of the University of Michigan pointed out that most of the lecture contents were from a policy-related top-down analysis perspective, but scientific and technological cooperation was more from a bottom-up perspective. Many front-line companies want to know the specific problems encountered in scientific and technological cooperation. She gave the example of Huawei establishing a scientific research institution in Silicon Valley. They use the human resources of Silicon Valley to attract the world's top scientific and technological personnel and provide them with a relatively stable working and living environment. They can work for Chinese companies without going to China. This is a typical technological cooperation between enterprises, using overseas resources to serve Chinese enterprises. Then American companies are also eager to enter China and gain more markets. When it comes to returnees, in terms of high-quality human resources, can overseas Chinese who are not returnees also contribute to China's international cooperation? How can those who participate in international cooperation as overseas experts receive reasonable remuneration? Many cutting-edge and practical issues have made everyone see the importance of this meeting. The fact that this conference was held at Arizona State University for the first time reflects overseas attention to Chinese science and technology and China's international relations. Vice President Dennis said that in the next few years, Chinese students will account for 1/3 of the total number of international students at ASU. ASU has established cooperative relationships with more than 20 universities in the 211 Project in China. Some of them offer "3+2" international academic qualifications (three years of study at a Chinese university, two years of study at ASU, and employment from both universities). Some schools, in addition to the traditional exchange of students to study at the school, also encourage professors to lead research groups to China and the United States for research. ASU has established an American Cultural Center at Sichuan University and is committed to systematically promoting American culture in China. The ASU Confucius Institute has established a systematic Chinese learning system in Arizona and vigorously promotes the spread of Chinese culture in the United States. Cooperation between enterprises and schools in science and technology is an important part of the establishment of international relations. Seizing the good opportunity of scientific and technological cooperation and achieving win-win situation is the general trend of jointly building good international relations.