China’s leading scientists advised to keep a low profile in their work as US steps up pressure on tech firms
- Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser, Liu He, issues advice during visit to Chinese Academy of Sciences
- United States continues to target Chinese tech firms with supercomputing firms added to blacklist over the weekend
The top economic aide to China’s President Xi Jinping has told researchers at the country’s leading scientific institution to keep a “low profile” and stay down to earth.
The comments by Vice-Premier Liu He were published on the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Monday but Friday’s visit was not reported in state media.
His visit came amid a deepening “technology war” with Washington restricting exports of key components to China while Beijing blamed the US for trying to impede the country’s technological advancement.
On Friday the US Commerce Department blacklisted five Chinese organisations working on supercomputers, citing national security concerns, having already blocked the technology giant Huawei from US markets.
The latest move targeted Sugon, an enterprise backed by the CAS, and three of its subsidiaries, as well as the Wuxi Jiangnan Institute, which the US said was linked to China’s military.
During his visit, Liu, whose responsibilities include science and research, told the scientists to enhance research on “core technologies” and “strengthen science and technology cooperation with developed countries”.
He did not mention the US or the ongoing trade war in the statement.
However, the technological rivalry with US has become an increasing problem for Chinese scientists as the US increases its scrutiny of individuals and companies.
The topic is likely to be on the agenda when Xi meets his US counterpart Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Osaka later this week.
Members of the CAS are involved in a research across a wide range of fields, ranging from super computing to artificial intelligence.
It is also the controlling shareholder of dozens of commercial enterprises, according to its website.
Following the latest ban on Chinese firms, the official Xinhua news agency published an editorial saying America’s attempts to “suppress China’s economic and technological development” were doomed to fail.
Chinese researchers said the targeting of firms such as Huawei should serve as a wake-up call.
Lu Xiang, an expert on US-China relations with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said last year’s attempts to blacklist ZTE, another Chinese tech giant, showed how risky it was to be reliant on US technology.
“We need to drop the romantic perspective that the market forces can always form an optimal global supply chain,” said Lu.
Additional reporting by Wendy Wu
