Aiming Far Beyond the Moon

CHANG’E is the Chinese moon goddess.Named after her， the Chang’e-6 lunar modulereturned to earth this June carrying1，935.3 grams of rocks and dust from thefar side of the moon.

A world first， the unique samples， more viscousand clumpier than previous lunar specimens， willbe distributed worldwide for scientific analysis.

China’s lunar program began as recently as 2007when Chang’e-1 was placed in orbit to create a highresolution 3-D map of the moon’s surface. As such， itillustrates China’s enviable ability to concentrate its"efforts on major tasks. This ability， President Xi Jinping hassuggested， is one of the major advantages of China’ssocialist system.

The results of China’s capacity to concentrate onmajor tasks are equally evident in its rapid transitionfrom a rural economy to a global industrial power，in the successful elimination of extreme poverty， inbuilding the world’s largest high speed train systemand in pursuing a fast transition to green energy.

It is apparent， too， in the transformation of Chinainto a leading scientific nation. As recently as 2019，the London-based The Economist asked whetherChina could become a scientific superpower. InJune， this year， it concluded that： “Today， that questionhas been unequivocally answered： ‘yes.’’’

This bodes well for China as the world confrontsan information revolution as important as the inventionof the printing press （which China devisedand Uyghur people may have taken West along theSilk Road）. Printing energized the Western Renaissance，facilitated the industrial and scientific revolutionsand helped legitimate secularism. Artificialintelligence， quantum computing， biotechnologyand， alongside these developments， the transitionto a post-carbon economy are likely to be equallytransformative.

This is why the recently held third plenum of the20th CPC Central Committee is so important. The"Central Committee， elected by the quinquennialNational Congress， is after the Congress， the Party'stop decision-making body. Its plenary meetings，held seven times every five years since the 18th CPCNational Congress， are usually called plenums. Thisyear， the third plenum introduced major policy initiativeswith an eye on the future.

Many third plenums have become waypoints delineatingChina’s progress and relationship with theworld. The 1978 plenum laid the foundations for the“reform and opening-up policy.” The plenum in 1993announced the liberalization of the yuan while emphasizinga socialist market economy. Those in 1998and 2008 focused on agriculture and consequentlycontributed to the eradication of rural poverty andto establishing China as the world leader in agriculturalscience. The 2013 plenum introduced the strategyof comprehensively deepening reform while alsoending the one-child population policy.

The recent plenum focused on deepening reform，placing science and technology at the heart of thehigh-quality development that China intends toachieve. As the official communique stated： “Wemust fully implement the strategy of invigoratingChina through science and education， the strategyof developing a quality workforce， and the innovation-driven development strategy， make coordinatedefforts to promote integrated reform of institutionsand mechanisms pertaining to education， scienceand technology， and human resources， and improvethe new system for mobilizing resources nationwideto make key technological breakthroughs.”

It is noteworthy that China has scientists at thecenter of government with five of the 11 newcomerselected to the Political Bureau of the CPC CentralCommittee in 2022 being eminent scientists.

Among them are Ma Xingrui and Yuan Jiajun，respectively chief commander of the Chang’e-3 programthat successfully placed a lander on the moonin 2010， still operational today， and chief commanderof the Shenzhou Spacecraft， China’s NationalManned Space Program. Both scientists hold executivepositions that enable science directly to informpolicy decisions; Ma and Yuan are respectively thetop CPC officials in Xinjiang Uygur AutonomousRegion and Chongqing， China’s most populous city.

The Central Science and Technology Commission.established in 2023， promotes science-basedinnovation as the driving force of China’s new developmentmodel. Headed by Vice Premier DingXuexiang， an engineer， it ensures that the effortsof ministries， research institutes and industry arefocused on the major task of transforming scientificexcellence into practical applications.

Exploiting its lead in frontier technologies andthe digital economy， China can successfully transitionto become a high-income country， avoiding the“middle income trap” that has prevented furtherdevelopment in many other countries. Equally，science-led， high-quality development must besustainable， low-carbon and green. This will needto be encouraged by innovative fiscal， investment，and pricing regimes and by enhanced ecologicalprotection compensation schemes. To adopt thepoetic language of the plenum communique， “Wemust improve ecological conservation systems，make concerted efforts to cut carbon emissions，reduce pollution， pursue green development， andboost economic growth， actively respond to climatechange， and move faster to improve the systemsand mechanisms for applying the principle that lucidwaters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”

China intends to avoid mistakes made by othercountries that have hollowed out traditional industries.Around 30 percent of global manufacturingoutput is currently contributed by China whichleads the world in two fifths of the major categoriesof industrial products. It is imperative， therefore，for enterprises in these sectors either to adoptadvanced technologies to remain competitive， orto transform when upgrading proves impossible.China’s ability to facilitate such transitions rests onits unique ability to combine effective governmentwith the efficient use of market forces.

China’s response to the new information revolutionis not aided by those insistent on global leadershipand fearful of fair competition. The U.S. hasimposed export controls， financial sanctions and inboundand outbound investment screening that are“narrowly focused” on Chinese technology. Manyof these actions are considered to be a violation ofhuman rights because of their negative impact onthe wellbeing of Chinese citizens. While opennessfosters economic efficiency and global develop"ment， and science advances through internationalcollaboration， this is not the American way.

In contrast， China’s “opening up” has always beenseen as a two-way opportunity. Vice Premier DingXuexiang reiterated this when addressing the 2024Zhongguancun Forum in April. China， he emphasized，was keen to work with others to put into actionthe principles of \"open， fair， just and non-discriminatory\"international cooperation in science and technology，fostering a global scientific community.

Similarly， the Plenum aspired to “steadily expandinstitutional opening up， deepen the foreign tradestructural reform， further reform the managementsystems for inward and outward investment， improveplanning for regional opening up， and refinethe mechanisms for high-quality cooperation underthe Belt and Road Initiative.”

While a lack of international cooperation wouldslow learning and hold back global development， informedcommentators recognize that it could eventuallystrengthen the Chinese economy. As recentlyas 2018， China needed to import 35 key technologiesbut， when threatened， these so-called “chokepoints”can be addressed. Seven times more STEM studentsgraduate in China annually than in the U.S.A. andthousands of Chinese scientists working abroadcould be welcomed home. As The Economist magazinenoted， “Even Huawei has prospered despite"foreign sanctions.”

Scientists might study science for science’s sake.However， the ultimate goal of China’s deepening reformas the Plenum made clear， is to meet people’saspirations for a better life by promoting the commonprosperity and development of urban and rural areas.

President Xi Jinping stressed this when speakingat a symposium of business leaders and academicsin Jinan in Shandong Province in May. He drew attentionto “the pressing concerns and aspirationsof the general public” in relation to employment， incomegrowth， education， healthcare， housing， governmentservices， childcare， elderly care， personalsafety， and property security.

These pressing concerns mean that action is requiredwhile the new information revolution is stillunfolding. Development must generate more highqualityemployment， create better entrepreneurialopportunities， be more inclusive and reduce regionaland urban-rural disparities. New wealth producedthrough technological advance should be fairly distributedwith better access to education and publichealth care， and more comprehensive social security.Those newly arriving in cities should be betterintegrated and rural dwellers permitted to share inChina’s growing prosperity through economic revitalizationand improved service provision.

The legacy of this year’s plenum may be itsresponse to the pressing concerns identified byPresident Xi Jinping. It pledges to： “improve theinstitutions and mechanisms for advancing new urbanization，consolidate and improve the basic ruraloperation system， … improve the income distributionsystem， the employment-first policy， and thesocial security system， further reform the medicaland healthcare systems， and improve the systemsfor facilitating population development and providingrelated services.”

Science and technological development thusbecome means to a greater goal. Reaching themoon is merely a step towards achieving commonprosperity.