CiCM 26th July 2023

NEWS IN CHINA

Jinan Innovation Zone in Shandong province announced the opening of its first foreign-related services area. The new services area focuses on improving the investment environment for, and the facilitation of, the business operations of foreign-funded industries. It is intended to provide efficient and comprehensive assistance to foreign investors and expatriates in addressing language barriers, unfamiliar administrative procedures and avoid multiple agency interactions. The area has an established system and a comprehensive "one-stop" list of 18 foreign-related services which are integrated into a dedicated window that provides policy information, consulting and assistance services for foreign investors and expatriates. Further, the innovation zone is aiming to attract more global capital, technology and talents while promoting high-quality development of foreign investment and trade through its services.
China’s newly reappointed Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the Global South to “expand their voice” and ensure mutual support in a changing world order. Speaking at the ongoing BRICS meeting in South Africa, Yi urged for the Global South to be united and cooperative, advocate the principle of common cause and shared responsibility as well as support the United Nations in playing an active role in international affairs. He also articulated the need to resist the Cold War mentality and zero-sum game at the BRICS security meetings, emphasising the imperativeness for countries to resist unilateralism, hegemony and oppose decoupling and double standards. Wang Yi underscored that after more than 10 years of development, the BRICS has become an important platform for emerging market countries and developing countries to unite and support each other on mutual interest and major concerns.
The Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center suffered an attack by foreign hackers. The police reported that an investigation has been launched; preliminary findings showed that hacking organisations and criminals with foreign government backgrounds were behind the attack. The attack on the network at the front-end station of the Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center, affiliated with Wuhan Municipal Emergency Management Bureau was revealed by the China Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and 360 Security Technology. Technical analysis revealed that a backdoor program was inserted into the network equipment, which was capable of controlling and stealing seismic activity data. The earthquake monitoring centre quickly sealed the relevant network equipment and reported the situation to concerned authorities.
As part of summer vacation cross-Strait exchanges with Peking University, a group of 38 students and teachers from the National Taiwan University arrived in Beijing. Wang Bo, vice-president of Peking University, highlighted that the exchanges are significant in promoting two-way communication and deepening the friendship between the Chinese and Taiwanese youth. The arrival of the Taiwanese group is following the end of a nine-day visit to Taiwan by 37 students and teachers from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Wuhan University and Hunan University who held direct and extensive talks, as well as sports and cultural exchanges with the Taiwanese university students. The first since a three-year suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these exchanges have been organised by the management of both the universities since 2001.
China’s Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) discovered over 800 pulsars. According to Jiang Peng, chief engineer of the telescope, the FAST has identified over 800 new pulsars since its launch in 2016 which is more than three times the total number of pulsars discovered by foreign telescopes during the same period. Observation of these pulsars is an important task for FAST, which can be used to confirm the existence of gravitational radiation and black holes. This adds to a long list of successes held by FAST in the study of fast radio bursts, neutral hydrogen and nanohertz gravitational waves, greatly expanding the scope of human exploration of the universe.
China’s hi-tech state fund crossed the USD 8 billion mark in the country’s drive to achieve self-sufficiency. The National Fund for Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, established in 2014 to transform research results into business ventures, went over 62.4 billion yuan ($8.7 billion) in 2023. Beijing has adopted a top-down “whole-country” approach in its bid for technological self-sufficiency especially following its ongoing rivalry with the US. By the end of 2022, the National Fund for Technology Transfer and Commercialisation (NFTTC) had set up 36 sub-funds to invest around 36 billion yuan into 616 enterprises, and had helped turn 974 scientific and technological achievements into profit-oriented projects, reports revealed.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

Ice cream cones dressed in traditional Chinese skirts and hairpins goes viral on social media: Videos of an ice cream shop on Jiangsu province dressing ice cream cones in horse-face skirts and hairpins as a marketing strategy to boost sales became a trending story on social media platforms. On the Xiaohongshu platform, one user drew attention to the funny element of it saying that even ice creams wear horse-face skirts now. Another user wrote on WeChat that she would happily spend the extra 28 yuan for a skirt-covered cone owing to its cultural appeal.

INDIA WATCH

China has been in a race to achieve self-sufficiency in all spheres, especially with the onset of its ongoing rivalry with the US. In particular, the technology sector has been receiving quite a lot of attention from the Chinese state authorities. China has long used state-level financing to boost major industries and this has especially been seen in recent times with respect to its efforts to transform research results into business ventures. China has set up several state funds, for instance the National High-Tech R&D Program, Made in China 2025 etc, to support the commercialisation of new technologies, products, materials and devices. In this regard, India has also made extensive progress with several boards and initiatives being put in place. The Technology Development Board (TDB) under the Department of Science and Technology provides financial assistance to Indian companies for the commercialization of indigenous technologies. Another example is the Atal Innovation Mission under the NITI Aayog, which is a flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India promoting commercialisation. The Indian government also approved Rs. 56,415 crores for capital investment under ‘Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2023-24’ Scheme for giving timely boost to capital spending by States in 2023. This comes following the commitment of Rs 7,385 crore to 88 Alternative Investment Funds by the government under the Startup India Initiative in 2022. However, there are areas that require more attention and policy intervention. Expanding the network of incubators and accelerators across the country to support startups and early-stage companies is an important measure as is the establishment of seed-funding and early-stage capital sources. Strengthening and enforcing IPR laws to provide better protection to innovators can encourage more investment in research and development. What remains crucial in this regard is the need for a strong culture of industry-academia collaboration which will ultimately encourage collaborative research and technology transfer to facilitate the commercialization of innovative ideas. Successful commercialization of indigenous technologies will aid in enhancing India's global standing as well as project it as an innovation hub and a source of high-quality products and services.

Prepared By

Maria Sony

Maria Sony is currently pursuing my master's in International Studies from Symbiosis International University. She completed her bachelor's in History honours from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi. She has a keen interest in Asian area studies and soft power projections. She also loves learning new languages and she is currently completing a course in Mandarin.