The Shenzhou XVII astronaut crew’s safe return to Earth on April 30 and the successful launch of the Shenzhou XVIII mission a few days earlier serve as fresh reminders of China’s strides in space exploration and its leading position in the world in the fields of science and technology, a Malaysian political analyst said.

In the past decade, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, the nation has made sci-tech advancements by leaps and bounds, said Chin Yew Sin, president of the Malaysia-based Global Strategy Research Centre.

“Since President Xi Jinping assumed leadership in 2013, the efforts on … science and technology have been quadrupled under his great leadership,” Chin told China Daily in an interview.

While ancient China had Four Great Inventions, modern China has Four Great Technologies, namely the Tiangong space station, Beidou navigation system, quantum computers, and quantum chips, said Chin Yew Sin, president of the Malaysia-based Global Strategy Research Centre

Following the Chinese successes in many fields, the United States has been stepping up efforts to curb China’s progress in sci-tech, Chin noted.  

China offers many products or technologies that are leading the world in terms of technological innovations, productivity and performance.

“This is evidenced by President Xi Jinping’s 2024 New Year message, in which he used many paragraphs to describe the success of China in many fields, such as the C919 large passenger airliner, Chinese-built large cruise ship, Shenzhou spaceships, deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe, Chinese-made mobile phones, new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaic products, etc.”

Cutting-edge Chinese products include the Huawei Pura 70 Series smartphones that incorporate artificial intelligence technology and are the first of their kind in the world; electric vehicles (EVs) from BYD, which has become the world’s No 1 in EV sales; and DJI drones, which have captured more than 80 percent of the world market.

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In Chin’s opinion, while ancient China had Four Great Inventions, modern China has Four Great Technologies, namely the Tiangong space station, Beidou navigation system, quantum computers, and quantum chips.

He believes that China’s current growth model is based on the digital economy, and that the nation will also have a fully developed green economy in 5-10 years’ time.

The green economy, featuring increased use of solar panels, wind power, ocean power, new energy vehicles, etc, involves equal emphasis on economic growth and environmental protection of China, he said, adding: “This is in line with China’s promise to the United Nations in 2020 that China will achieve Carbon Neutrality in 2060.”

Chin highlighted the application of AI technologies in China with the nation’s “smart cities”. In future, China will integrate AI electric vehicles and AI homes, which can be controlled by users with AI mobile phones.

If US is so confident of its status as the so-called sole superpower in the world, why (does it) need to resort to all sorts of underhand tactics and long-arm jurisdiction to prevent the competition from and the rise of China?

Chin Yew Sin, president of the Malaysia-based Global Strategy Research Centre

“The United States cannot compete with many products coming from China such as Huawei mobile phones and BYD EVs,” he said. “So they have used national security barrier to prevent these Chinese products from entering the US market. This is a crystal-clear double standard practised by US to protect their uncompetitive industries.”

Free trade was once pioneered by the US government, but now Washington has become the most protectionist regime in the world, Chin said.

Meanwhile, a clear practice of daylight robbery perpetrated by US is to coerce the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok to sell its US operations or face a ban, he added.

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Besides, the US Commerce Department said on May 9 US sanctioned another 37 Chinese entities to the trade blacklist, with 22 of them in the quantum computing business.

Chin noted that the US had created a mechanism last year for restricting outbound investments in the semiconductor, quantum information and AI sectors to restrict China’s growth in the high-tech industry.

Moreover, Washington, using long-arm jurisdiction, had forced Netherlands’ top chipmaking equipment firm ASML to stop selling lithography systems to China in 2023. “This is clearly against the spirit of free trade policy which US championed once,” Chin said.

On May 14, US President Joe Biden announced to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, solar cells, batteries, steel and aluminum, and critical minerals worth $18 billion. China's Ministry of Commerce has strongly opposed such measures against rules of the Word Trade Organization and promises of Biden himself to China.

Chin posed this question: “If US is so confident of its status as the so-called sole superpower in the world, why (does it) need to resort to all sorts of underhand tactics and long-arm jurisdiction to prevent the competition from and the rise of China?”

By 2050, China will far overtake the US economically and technologically, Chin predicted. China will surpass the US in the educational sector and China’s peaceful culture will have a far greater impact than Western culture in the world, said Chin

“It is both absurd and illogical for the US to do so. They should be confident (about) fair competition with other countries in order to let consumers enjoy much cheaper products from China and other countries.”

Chin noted that China had overtaken the US for the first time, in 2023, to become the biggest contributor to research articles published in top science journals.

“I predict, in 2035, China will surpass US to become the largest economy in the world,” he added. “At the same time, China will also lead in the realms of science and technology.”

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By 2050, China will far overtake the US economically and technologically, Chin predicted. China will surpass the US in the educational sector and China’s peaceful culture will have a far greater impact than Western culture in the world, said Chin.

Chin said that China has beaten the US squarely in delivering a harmonious society, as compared with a very divisive society in the US today.