China Systematically Developing New Technologies 261
newsblaze writes "China, having recognized there are major gaps in its science and technology arsenal, released their Technology Development Plans. The plans cover five main areas — geology, mechanical engineering, metallurgical engineering and aeronautical engineering. Three areas are prioritized in space technology and six major goals are announced.
All this comes after having first set out their 100 Year Vision of Greatness.
They appear to be giving themselves a breathing space, telling the world they are interested in cooperation and also giving themselves a major target, in much the same way as John F Kennedy did for the USA."
Typical mistake (Score:2, Interesting)
Still. Just goes to show you can't tell politicians, they need to be controlling things. Same the world over.
Re:It's easier when you have a target (Score:1, Interesting)
They want to cut the umbilical cord to the USA (Score:1, Interesting)
Chinese Diplomat: For motherland, we want Taiwan now. We now annex Taiwan to Greater China.
American Diplomat: Well, then, I'm sorry to inform you that the discount wholesale price on those new Boeing 787s you ordered is now NULL and VOID ! You have to pay Full Price + Extra Tariffs ! Take that, LOL !
Chinese Diplomat: We have satisfactory improved domestically manufactured Chinese copy of Tupolev 9000 airplane. We now cancel all orders for 787s. Please to be refunding our initial deposit.
American Diplomat: Oh sh*t
Chinese Diplomat: For motherland, we want Mongolia now. We now annex Mongolia to Greater China.
Watch out USA! (Score:4, Interesting)
Let's look at some of the facts here:
1: They, (the Chinese), are responsible for keeping our currency (the dollar) afloat since they are holding a good chunk of our debt.
2: They are the world's greatest manufacturer now and are not about to stop.
3: They produce most scientists and engineers than all major powers combined.
4: Because of the above, they managed to shoot a satellite from orbit. The US and Russia thought they were the only ones capable of this.
5: They keep low, just like the Russians, and are planning to manufacture their own [wide body] passenger planes.
6: The USA is helping China in a way because its leaders and government are running massive deficits and on top of this, spending huge amounts of cash on munitions, creating no value at all.
Guys, the red dragon is rising and we cannot stop it!
Re:You can't impose liberty. You grow it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:this is all well and nice but (Score:5, Interesting)
This program recalls to mind China's earlier experiment with statist progress. "The Great Leap Forward" was an unmitigated disaster.
Just what the doctor ordered (Score:4, Interesting)
And on a related note, people need to stop dismissing China simply because of their political system. I hate communists just as much as the next red blooded American, but saying they can't do science in a one party government with a control economy is simply short sighted and naive. Doesn't anyone remember the cold war? I seem to recall the Soviets putting the first satellite in orbit, and the first man (and woman) in space. Just because we beat them to the moon doesn't mean they were inept. If anything, history should remind us how effective the concentrated efforts of the government, the economy, the military and civilians of a nation can be. Political freedom does not by default lead to progress, nor does a lack of it guarantee regress.
Good Thing I Married One (Score:5, Interesting)
What amazes my wife most is how much America cares about what are internal Chinese matters, while we, Americans, meddle in every affair across the globe. I can attest that the average Chinese is non too concerned about internet censorship nor political activism. They all assume (rightly or wrongly) they will all have more rights and freedoms as their wealth increases. Modern Chinese care about wealth and security. Obtaining an education is almost a mantra for them.
While the majority of rural Chinese live in property, it will not take too many more decades of double-digit GDP growth to correct this.
While I prefer living in America and believe in Capitalism and Democracy the current Chinese brand of socialism is working well. It is a hybrid system of Capitalism and Central Control that for now is working. It may breakdown in the future, but not necessarily. Communist dogma is not allowed to get in the way of economic planning. That they can plan for the long run should be envied. Chinese patience is an amazing thing.
I am not prepared to say China will eclipse America and the West soon, but am also disinclined to say they could not be the major Super Power in the world 30-50 years from now.
Of course I've hedged my bets by having a Chinese wife
Why is that a troll? (Score:2, Interesting)
Although I would still give 1000x more credit for the pillaging of the world by American business not because Jay-zuss is coming to take us all home, but because executives don't get any credit for planning anything beyond pump and dumping the end-of-the-quarter's stock price, thus justifing the next bloated paycheck. Propose a 100-year plan for an American business (or even for government) and you'll just get ridiculed.
Space Technology (Score:4, Interesting)
I should also point out that various functionaries in the Chinese space progam have been shopping around grand plans for China in space for a couple of years now. One who is familiar with the history of space exploration might note that NASA functionaries did the same thing in the 60's (as well as off and on since then), shopping around grandiose plans far in excess of the political goals of the national leadership. Russia's space officials have been doing the same thing since a little after the fall of the USSR. The results of all three agencies propoganda and planning are noticeable by their absence.
The only concrete results of these (Chinese) "plans" has been a heap of fearmongering FUD on Slashdot and in the blogosphere. All available evidence points towards the Chinese continuing their space program at it's current glacial pace. (Though the term 'glacial' is perhaps inappropriate - as it implies that glaciers have the same blazing speed normally associated with continental drift.) They have just enough of a program to convince the world that they are a Great Nation - and not a Yuan more. (Which is pretty much true of all nations space programs.)
[1] And the "100 Year Vision of Greatness" cited by the submitter only appears on the same website, by the same author as the "Technology Development Plans" article. This seems fairly suspicious.
Re:Watch out USA! (Score:3, Interesting)
No need to worry about the rest of the world - the impact on their own economy and currency from dumping their reserves will be devastating to them. There is no way to dump those reserves fast enough to cause real damage to the US, but slowly enough to avoid having to take massive losses. The two are simply mutually incompatible.
Re:It's easier when you have a target (Score:3, Interesting)
American has dreadful NIH and xenophobia. We won't even use the metric system. I heard a guy on Jon Stewarts show talking about changes in US immigration policy away from immigration and towards guest worker program. He memorably said, "The one thing we copy from France, and it has to be their immigration policies."
China once had the kind of NIH and xenophobic attitudes America has been sliding into, and they suffered a century of weakness as a result.
America is still stuck looking inwardly, and to the past. The big irony of a decade or more of conservative ascendancy in US policy is that the conservatives initiatives have managed to demolish one of the conservatisms most cherished values: national sovereignty. National sovereignty doesn't mean the same thing when you are dependent upon others for everything except agriculture, and that done with foreign machines running on foreign oil paid for with currency propped up by foreign treasuries. That's not a xenophobe's nightmare future, that's today.
It's not that this is so bad, this is exactly what we told the world we wanted. The problem is we didn't exactly have much of a plan to manage the transition, other than to take some quick short term profits from labor cost differentials.
Personally, I think its futile to think about putting the genie back in the bottle, because it can't be done without breaking the bottle. But that's exactly what people are going to start demanding once the reality sinks in because we're culturally and poltiically ill equipped to deal with our interdependency with the rest of the world.
The Iraq fiasco may be a blessing in disguise. When we talk about "victory", what we're talking about is the ability to impose our preferred outcomes -- unless there is a new definition of military victory. But we are so over our heads there that even the administration has abandoned its utter contempt of diplomacy. In the end we're either leaving with our tails between our legs or we're going to the rest of the world for help with a humbled attitude. Maybe both. And maybe we'll find out humble pie isn't so hard to swallow now and then.
One of the natural roles for the US in the global economy is as a major center of scientific and technological innovation. But we aren't going to be only such center, and we can't expect to continue as driver of innovation if we pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist or doesn't matter. One thing we can learn from the Japanese is to embrace the alien and learn from it.