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CHINA SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
NEWSLETTER
The Ministry of Science
and Technology
People's Republic of
China
N0.270 September 10,2001
IN THIS ISSUE
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*
New Foreign Investment Opportunities
* Absorb More
Funds for Transport Infrastructures
* Return of
Overseas Graduates Encouraged
* Sparkle Heading for
the West
* Major Progress in Embryo Stem Cell Cloning
* China Joins Human Brain Project
* High
Energy Physics Meeting in
China
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SPECIAL
ISSUES
New Foreign
Investment Opportunities
At China West Forum
2001, Sun Zhenyu, Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation made his presentation on new
opportunities for foreign investment upon China's accession
to the World Trade Organization, which aimed at further
promoting foreign businessmen's active involvement in
China's west development so as to stimulate the economic and
social development of China's vast west region.
Mr.
Sun expressed that to encourage foreign investors to enhance
their investment in the middle and west regions of China and
further stimulate the economic development in the regions,
the central government has since 1999 worked out a series of
favorable policies encouraging foreign investment in China's
middle and west regions. These policies have
mainly covered six aspects including expanding the opening
areas in the west regions, increasing investment approaches,
loosening restrictions on foreign investment, providing more
favorable taxation treatment for those investing in the
areas that the Chinese Government encourages, enhancing
banking support for investment projects and establishing
national economic and technical development parks for better
investment environment. The Announcement on
Implementing West Development Policies issued by the Chinese
State Council has further updated and coordinated different
policies on encouraging foreign investment in the west
regions. Along with China's accession to the World Trade
Organization, the Chinese Government will take actions in
the following nine areas so as to absorb more foreign
investment in the west regions.
1. Revising the
Catalog on Advantageous Industries for Foreign Investment in
Middle and West Regions, and taking advantage of the
resources and economic strength of the west region,
especially developing its special economies.
2.
Updating the Interim Regulations on the Investment of
Foreign Invested Enterprises in China, creating conditions,
and promoting the re-investment of coastal foreign invested
businesses in the west regions and realizing gradient
industrial shifting.
3. Further expanding the areas
absorbing foreign investment in the west, encouraging
foreign investment in the basic fields such as agriculture,
forestry, hydraulic works, transportation, energy, public
utilities, environment protection, infrastructures
construction and tapping mineral and tourist resources.
4. Formulating policies encouraging foreign
investment in the following major national key projects such
as the transmission of electric power from the west to the
east, natural gas from the west to the east and water from
the south to the north, and Qinghai-Tibet railroad system,
so as to accelerate the infrastructure constructions of the
west regions.
5. Working out policies and measures on
foreign acquisition and merger of state owned enterprises,
BOT and TOT based investment and overseas IPO process of
foreign invested businesses.
6. Encouraging foreign
invested businesses to import and develop advanced
technologies and engage in technical innovations; guiding
foreign invested businesses, especially multinationals to
invest in establishing high tech industries and R and D
institutions; encouraging foreign investors to run capital
and technology intensive projects and open up more advanced
technology oriented projects.
7. Further opening
banking, insurance, commercial retail, foreign trade,
telecommunication, tourism, building construction and
associated services, China-foreign joint accounting firms
and law firms in the major cities of the west regions, and
duly loosen the restrictions on the establishment of the
foreign invested businesses in these fields.
8.
Encouraging small and medium enterprises to be part of the
international cooperation, promoting foreign investment in
projects on machinery and electronic products, components
and parts, and supporting raw materials and foreign exchange
making oriented projects;
9. Sticking to the policy
on mainstreamed with industrial projects, absorbing foreign
capital and export, striving to develop high technologies;
going on to run the national economic and technical
development parks well in the west so as to display their
demonstration, mobilizing, radiation and stimulating roles.
Absorb More Funds for Transport
Infrastructures
During the 10th Five-Year Plan
period, China will adopt more flexible and favorable
policies to attract more capital from both home and abroad
to feed the construction and operation of transport
infrastructures, while continuing its increasing utilization
of loans from international banking institutions, foreign
governmental loans and the loans from domestic banking
institutions.
The Special Plan for Integrated
Transport System Development for the 10th Five-Year Plan
period issued recently by the Chinese State Development and
Planning Commission points out that during the 10th period,
China will revise its previous regulations on foreign
investment by expanding the domains receiving foreign direct
investment, easing the restrictions on the percentage of
foreign equity and adopting positive fund raising policies
so as to increase the direct investment percentage in
transport infrastructure constructions. In the meanwhile, a
corresponding anti-monopoly mechanism will be established to
ensure the economic security.
The special plan
provides that in the constructions of transport
infrastructure, the one of public interests shall be the
responsibility of the government and for the one serving the
dual purpose of both public interests and commercial profit
making, the government shall share the proportioned
investment.
During the 10th period, China will
improve its government based fund system and secure the
stability of such fund through turning fee charging into tax
collection. To avoid the possible weakening of governmental
fund when transport tension is eased, the funds for
transport infrastructure constructions and maintenance shall
be secured with a steady increase through changing fee
charging into tax collection.
The plan also mentioned
that during the 10th period China would create industrial
investment fund and issue long and medium term construction
bonds to absorb the funds from society and individuals for
transport infrastructure constructions.
The
investment made by industrial investment fund may enjoy the
relevant policies favorable for the foreign investment. When
investing in the project having relatively poor economic
returns by the industrial investment fund, the government
may allocate appropriate subsidies or allow a controllable
upper limit for investment return.
Return of
Overseas Graduates Encouraged
Recently five
Chinese governmental agencies including the Ministry of
Personnel Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry
of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Public Security
and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued “Comments
on Encouraging Overseas Chinese Graduates to Serve Their
Motherland in Different Forms". The said document is
the first of its kind encouraging overseas Chinese graduates
to serve their motherland in an integrated and systematic
manner. The Comments have made explicit provisions on the
supporting policies and the forms of services for overseas
Chinese graduates.
The Comments point out that
overseas Chinese graduates' service for the country is
defined as different activities aiming at promoting the
nation's economic and social development by overseas Chinese
graduates who are studying abroad or working abroad after
the completion of their studies abroad, working for the
businesses in the country by taking advantage of their
professionalism or gathered professional forces,
participating in the entrusted joint studies both at home
and abroad, lecturing in China, conducting academic and
technical exchanges, creating businesses in the country,
engaging in study tours and consultation activities, and
providing brokerage services.
The Comments encourage,
on the basis of serving their own country through different
approaches, to provide overseas graduates with seven forms
of services including part time job, joint studies,
entrusted studies, creating businesses, personnel training,
serving the west regions and brokerage services.
The
Comments point out that the state will provide policy
guarantee for the serving country activities of overseas
graduates. These policies are mainly set on providing budget
and compensation. Serving the country is not a volunteer
service without compensation, but rather a reasonably paid
job for labor, brokerage and commission in line with
international norms. The acquired income, after the
deduction of taxes, can be exchanged into foreign currencies
and remitted abroad. Their intellectual properties of
special knowledge, technical patents and R and D results
will be protected. Fine working and living conditions will
be provided. Also the state will facilitate entry
and exit procedures and employment services and publicize
the achievements of their services.
Sparkle
Heading for the West
The master development
plan of Sparkle Program for the 10th period issued recently
by the Ministry of Science and Technology
indicates that during the said period, China will establish
20 Sparkle S and T demonstration counties in the west
regions and develop a number of pillar industries of west
characteristics.
Sparkle Program will, closely
surrounding the west development strategies, strengthen R
and D capacity of the west region, especially that of
poverty stricken areas. The aim to relentlessly promote the
advancement of Sparkle Program into the west region and
remarkably improving S and T and cultural quality of farmers
in the west will be achieved through the implementation of
Sparkle projects, the construction of west Sparkle S and T
demonstration bases and S and T cooperation mechanism
between the east and the west. In the meanwhile, efforts
will be made to enhance the capacity of farmers in the west
so as to make them free from poverty and become rich with
the help of science and technology. On that basis it is
certain to improve the production and living
environment in the west, especially in the poverty stricken
areas, successfully nurture S and T support capacity in the
west regions, and eventually promote the full fledged
coordinated development of economy, society and environment
in the west.
During the 10th period, Sparkle Program
will take projects as the tie, S and T demonstration as the
means, S and T demonstration bases as the starting point,
and poverty alleviation and becoming rich and regional
economic development as the targets, and stick to the
principles of cooperation between the east and the west,
reciprocal supplement with each other, mutual benefits and
common development, so as to remarkably improve the
productivity level of the rural areas in these regions.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Major
Progress in Embryo Stem Cell Cloning
On August
31, 2001, a research team of the Northwest University of
Agriculture and Forestry separated a cell cluster of
heartbeat from human embryo stem cells, the sixth of its
kind achieved by the team. This is the only cell cluster
with heart beat obtained by the Chinese scientists
from human embryo stem cell splitting, which marked China's
world advanced human embryo stem cell studies.
In
1993, scientists of the Northwest University of Agriculture
and Forestry started their studies on separation and cloning
of embryo stem cells and in 1995 they successfully separated
and cloned ox and pig embryo stem cells from the fetus in
their early development stage and passed them on to two
generations. Up to date, the said stem cells have carried on
to the 7th generation in ox and the 5th generation in pig.
In 1996, they separated cell cluster with heartbeat from
mouse embryo stem cells and in 1997 separated and cloned
human embryo stem cells from discharged fetus and carried
them on to the 9th generation. This year has witnessed their
cloning of skin stem cells from adult goats.
It is
briefed that the team started their external separation and
cultivation of embryo stem cells on August 25 and witnessed
the cell clusters with a heart beat at 90 times per second.
Tracking Network Hacker
A
network based hacker tracking system has recently passed the
verification checks at Shanghai Jiaotong University by the
joint experts panel on national information security
application demonstration project. It is a filling in the
blank for Chinese information management. The experts who
nodded their approval believed that the network based hacker
tracking system was able to track down the origin of hackers
in a controllable and relatively closed computer network
area. The development has landed a breakthrough over the
former technology that was only able to tell the attacking
of hackers instead of tracking down the origin, and
realizing network wide supervision. The working concept on
which the system is built, namely the distributive hacker
tracking by taking advantage of network invasion testing,
data fingerprint technique and controllable computer
network, is also the first of its kind in the
country.
NEWS BRIEFS
China Joins
Human Brain Project
It was disclosed at the
founding ceremony of the Neuro Information Center of
Military Hospital on September 6, 2001 that a team of
Chinese scientists membered with Tang Xiaowei, an
academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Yin Ling
and Dr. Tang Yiyuan would be part of the efforts of
neuro-information working panel of the Global Scientific
Forum in Sweden. The development has made China
the 20th country in the world that is involved in
the global human brain project.
Formally launched in
1997, the human brain project is another large international
scientific research activity after the human genome project.
In 2000, the neuro-information science working group was
sponsored by the US under the guidance of OECD. Its phase I
objective was to have the worldwide scientists organized to
jointly study, develop, protect and create brains. Up to
date, the human brain project has entered its phase II with
the objectives of aiming at providing advanced information
tools to enable neurologists and information scientists to
associate brain structures with the results of brain
function studies for database construction, to search, to do
comparative studies and integration before working out
charts depicting brain functions, composition and
neuro-network.
China being the 20th country in the
world involved in the said efforts, its studies in the field
have come in line with international practice. At present,
Chinese scientists are working on how to make the
neuro-information studies of Chinese characteristics a
starting point for its joining in the project, and establish
China's own neuro information platform and database, so as
to collaborate with the scientists of other countries in an
efficient manner.
High Energy Physics Meeting
in China
CHEP 2001, the conference
representing top academic level of the world high energy and
nuclear physics computation lifted its curtain on September
4, 2001 in Beijing. It is CHEP's first meeting held in
China. 300 and odd participants including the
representatives from a dozen of renowned research
institutions such as the European Nucleus Center, the US
based Fermi Lab, the Russian Dubna National Lab etc. were
present.
The major theme of the meeting is network
computation aiming at creating a large and interactive and
cooperative high performance computer network by taking
advantage of connecting together wide area network based
computation resources, data resources and other facilities,
so as to help extremely large scientific projects such as
high physics experiments and genes decoding that call for
world wide cooperation and massive data processing. At the
five-day meeting, 180 special series presentations were made
by Prof. Manuel De Ifino, Director of Information Technology
Center, West European Nucleus Research Center, Matthias
Kasemann, Director of Computation Center, US Fermi Lab and
others.
China's Digital Marine Map
The highly efficient and intelligent digital
marine map developed by the Chinese navy has recently passed
experts verification checks. Integrated with words, images,
voice and activated pictures, the said digital marine map is
of many merits such as decision making capacity, large
information volume, fast saving capacity, portable, and able
to simulate marine reality. A single optic disk may contain
a hundred marine maps. The user may have access to the data
in a matter of a few seconds through radio
telecommunication, retrieving, downloading and directly
entering digital marine maps into the ship based automatic
control system for automatic piloting. The said development
is of important economic and defense values.
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