18th March 2023 – (Beijing) China’s Central Commission for Science and Technology has been established to oversee and review major national strategies for scientific and technological development. The move is considered by experts as one of the most significant changes to China’s innovation system in decades. The new commission is expected to help the country achieve core technological breakthroughs, particularly in the wake of the Western countries’ tech crackdown on China’s companies. The commission will enhance the Communist Party of China’s centralised and unified leadership over the work of science and technology. The restructuring also aims to enhance decision-making and execution efficiency in the country’s key scientific and technological innovations.
China has announced the establishment of a new Central Commission for Science and Technology, which is considered one of the most significant changes to the country’s innovation system in decades. This new commission will be responsible for reviewing major national strategies for scientific and technological development and is expected to pave the way for the rollout of more policies to achieve core technological breakthroughs. According to experts, this restructuring will enhance the Communist Party of China’s centralised and unified leadership over the work of science and technology, which is considered important in pushing China’s key scientific and technological innovations in the days to come.
China’s tech companies, ranging from Huawei to TikTok, are facing a toughening crackdown from Western countries. This move to establish the Central Commission for Science and Technology is seen by many experts as China’s response to Western restrictions on its tech industry. China aims to break the Western countries’ scientific blockade by pursuing self-reliance in the tech sector. The new commission will enhance decision-making and execution efficiency that will play a crucial role in China’s key scientific and technological innovations.
The Central Commission for Science and Technology will push forward the building of a national innovation system and structural scientific and technological reform. It will study and deliberate major strategies, plans, and policies for the country’s sci-tech development. Additionally, it will coordinate efforts to resolve major issues of strategic, guiding, and fundamental significance in the sci-tech sector. The plan also states that the commission will coordinate the deployment of strategic scientific and technological forces, such as national laboratories.
The restructured Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will bear the responsibilities of the working body of the new commission. A number of leadership groups related to science and technology have been scrapped. The restructuring of the MOST and the establishment of the Central Commission for Science and Technology are seen as significant steps towards enhancing decision-making and execution efficiency in China’s key scientific and technological innovations.
The establishment of the commission signals another lift to the strategic position of science and technology in China after the country designated science and technology as primary productive forces in 1988. It not only reflects the Chinese government’s strategic emphasis on science and technology but also enhances decision-making and execution efficiency in pushing China’s key scientific and technological innovations in the days to come.
Although China launched the national strategy of innovation-driven development in 2016 and a large amount of money has been poured into scientific research since then, there has not been enough of a shift from research into concrete industrial productivity. This is partly because MOST’s oversight of the science sector in the past was hindered by too much routine work and inadequate administrative levels to coordinate directly with different ministries and enterprises. The Central Commission for Science and Technology is expected to make policy deployments to push research and application of core technologies such as chip production, new energy, new materials, and artificial intelligence.