China watchChina’s Determined Effort to Build an S&T Infrastructure
For half a century, China, with dogged determination, has pursued its effort to build an S&T infrastructure. A new report from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) notes that foreign technology acquisition continues to play a large role in this effort, with commercial technology products becoming increasingly attractive targets. Beijing’s “hybrid innovation system” blends forms of academic collaboration, industry partnerships, cyber espionage, direct investment, and influence operations to enhance China’s comprehensive national power.
For half a century, China, with dogged determination, has pursued its effort to build an S&T infrastructure. A new report from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) notes that foreign technology acquisition continues to play a large role in this effort, with commercial technology products becoming increasingly attractive targets.(1)
Numerous books, academic studies, and think tank reports have chronicled how Beijing’s “hybrid innovation system” blends forms of academic collaboration, industry partnerships, cyber espionage, direct investment, and influence operations to enhance China’s comprehensive national power.(2) But while China’s S&T ambitions are well-known, what has been more elusive is how exactly the CCP’s strategic goals are carried out in practice— including which government personnel broker and support foreign technology acquisition. This is a key piece of the puzzle for U.S. and allied policymakers as they try to balance the importance of openness and transparency with the necessity of protecting against policies that undermine global norms around science and commerce.(3)
Here is the report’s executive summary:
Within the People’s Republic of China’s broader strategy to acquire foreign technology, “science and technology diplomats” (科技外交官) act as brokers. Stationed in PRC embassies and consulates across 52 countries, S&T diplomats monitor host country technological breakthroughs, identify investment opportunities for Chinese firms, and serve as the overseas arm of the International Cooperation Department of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).
S&T diplomats occupy a unique role in China’s technology acquisition strategy, forming a bridge between foreign and domestic entities. At home, MOST personnel interface with Chinese firms and track the scientific bottlenecks holding back China’s development. Abroad, they coordinate with overseas scientists, professional associations, diaspora guilds, and elements of the United Front Work Department in the countries where they are stationed, to identify opportunities where Chinese firms can grow relationships and invest. In short, S&T diplomats form the outward-facing portion of China’s broader technology transfer ecosystem, and monitor scientific breakthroughs, technology enterprises, and other forms of innovation that may be of interest to the Chinese government.(4)
