The Underlying Motivations and Long-Term Trends of the US Decoupling of China-US Science and Technology Relations

Since 2018,the US government has adopted a range of restrictive measures on China-US science and technology exchange,as it strives for a decoupling strategy against China.This strategy has brought about historic change in China-US science and technology relations.The US government has set out to obstruct the free flow of technology,data,capital,markets,and talents between China and the United States,thereby changing the basic rationale of China-US science and technology cooperation.The US has multiple underlying motivations for implementing this strategy including recognizing the security threats posed by China’s cutting-edge technology development,treating China as a competitor in global science and technology diplomacy,prompting the backflow of the technological industrial chain,and the strengthened industrial competition between the two countries.Decoupling is one of the competition strategies of the United States.It is aimed at ensuring a favorable position for their national innovation systems,particularly in China-US competition.However,the limitations of the decoupling strategy may not allow the US to achieve what it desires.These limitations also provide space for the two countries to ease their competitive relationship.

A new approach to assessing the science and technology competitiveness of China's provincial academies of sciences

Purpose： This study aims to establish a new framework for evaluating science and technology （S＆T） competitiveness that is appropriate to meet the needs of provincial academies of sciences （PASs） in China.Design/methodology/approaches： An evaluation index, including such assessing indicators as research strength, research impact, research development and trends, and regional contributions, is developed for China＇s PASs. Taking the Jiangxi Academy of Sciences （JXAS） as an example, we first explain how to apply this framework to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of PASs in China. Then, we compare the results of all 17 PASs in order to get a comprehensive understanding of their competitiveness.Findings： Our results show the development path, current status, innovation advantages, and weaknesses of JXAS very clearly. Based on our comparative analysis, we ranked the 17 PASs from the perspective of different dimensions, by which their competitiveness strengths and weaknesses can be highlighted for improvement.Research limitations： In this analysis, we did not take S＆T policies, S＆T systems, or historical factors into consideration. Thus, we may have ignored the influence of the soft individual differences of different PASs in China..Practical implications： The evaluation index developed in this paper provides a useful insight into an analytical method that can be used by PASs or other provincial research institutions （PRIs） to assess their competitiveness.Originality/value： Compared with existing evaluation frameworks, our method has two main characteristics： First, we added three new dimensions, including the PASs＇ applicable research outputs, regional contributions, and comparative advantages; second, we conducted a comparative analysis of local research institutes in their different advantaged industrial areas, which makes our analytical method more comprehensive for local research institutions.

Structure of National Science and Technology Competitiveness: A Methodological and Empirical Study

This paper clearly defines the concepts of the national competitiveness,the national S&T competitiveness,and the national S&T competitiveness structure.It develops an evaluation framework with three dimensions:the national S&T competitive potential,the national S&T competitive strength and the national S&T competitive effectiveness.This paper proposes a structure analysis method and depicts the national S&T competitiveness structure of 35 countries in an empirical research.Apart from the definitions and the structure analysis method,this paper mainly draws the following conclusions:(1)In the one-dimensional national S&T competitiveness structure,the top 5 countries were all developed countries in 2015,while the developing countries generally performed better than developed countries considering the average annual growth rate of the national S&T competitiveness index.The 35 countries are clustered into 4 categories using the two-dimensional structure analysis method.For example,based on the ranking of the national S&T competitive strength index and the national S&T competitive effectiveness index of the 35 countries in 2015,the 35 countries are clustered into four categories:high-strength and higheffectiveness,low-strength and high-effectiveness,low-strength and low-effectiveness,and high-strength and low-effectiveness.(2)To a large extent,there is a significant correlation between the national S&T competitiveness index score and the GDP per capita value.And to a certain extent,there is some correlation between the national S&T competitiveness index score and the GDP value.Moreover,under the background of strength and effectiveness combination,or under the background of strength and potential combination,the national S&T competitiveness structure and GDP or GDP per capita show significant relationship.