What Kind of Country We Become

11/25/2009 -  Dr. Zhao Gang is the Vice Director of the China Renewable Energy and New Energy International Cooperation Planning Office of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). This agency is responsible for international policy, R&D, and investment in technology and for advancing the development and application of new and renewable energy technologies in China and around the world.   TCBN CEO Janet Carmosky attended a reception for Dr. Zhao in Cleveland on November 7, 2009, where TCBN Charter Member Ye Fan Glavin, President of China Invests in America, interviewed him. Transcript, translated by TCBN, follows: 


GLAVIN: We are very pleased today to be hosting Dr. Zhao Gang, who is a strategist for the National Reform and Development Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.
I wanted to ask you, Dr. Zhao, based on your various experiences, what have you determined as the areas of focus for international cooperation and development?

ZHAO: America is the most advanced nation in the world. And China is the world’s largest developing country. So the first area of focus for us in international cooperation with the USA is a “framework” focus: policies, the climate, and strategy for working together.  The way we handle this will define the kind of cooperation that the USA and China have. And this climate for conversation and cooperation on strategy will determine what kind of country China will become, what kind of country the USA will become, and how these two nations contribute to a better world as we continue our respective development. This is especially true in the area of global climate change and environmental preservation: these are the issues that concern everyone on the planet.

In addressing these issues we need the participation of politicians and the people overall in both nations, in the exchange of ideas and the sharing of experiences. So, with a good climate and strategy for working together, through this sharing of ideas and exchanges, we find ways to help each other. The second key area of focus for cooperation is research and development. The specific areas within R&D that make sense to us are new energy, clean energy, environmental protection and restoration, and biological medicine. It is necessary to have cooperation between scientists and the commercial sector in both nations, and we need to focus on things that benefit humanity overall.  The third area of cooperation is at enterprise level. So many very large American companies have invested in China, which has benefits all around, and we hope that continues. 

At the same time, Chinese companies, at this stage in their process of reform and opening are reaching a point where they are able to expand from China. Chinese companies are being encouraged to invest in America. The fourth key area for US-China cooperation is investment and finance. China has really only begun to develop its investment and financial sector, and, by contrast America is a very mature and very developed market. We can say that America’s capital markets and enterprise investment systems are the most advanced in the world. So here, China will continue to learn from America and to exchange experiences. At the same time, through this global financial crisis, although America’s capital markets and economic systems are more advanced and very different from China’s, both in its design and its functioning, we have found that China’s system is in some ways more stable. So that is why I say that in this area that we are not only learning from America but exchanging practices and ideas.

China has the largest trade surplus and foreign reserves in the world, so China is looking at investment opportunities in other countries. America is a very attractive target for that investment. We would really like to see Chinese capital moving more freely and more widely into investment opportunities in America. In these four aspects, then, China and the USA can have a very, very good and positive future together. 

GLAVIN: Within these four areas of cooperation, how will China find projects that are well suited to US-China cooperation?

ZHAO: As a first step, because our national character and cultures are so different, I think it’s very important that we both work to come to a better understanding of the other. Through more dialogue and exchange between scientists, entrepreneurs, politicians and general people-to-people level, this understanding will come about.  Entrepreneurs are the ones who will be picking projects for international cooperation. And the selection criteria should be, “what projects and technologies have greatest positive impact on the most pressing issues in our world?” Using this criteria will give enterprises a higher chance for building something successful. There are competitive advantages native to China and China’s economic system, as well as competitive advantages native to the USA and its system is for entrepreneurs really, so we can choose those things which have the greatest competitive advantage. The complimentarity we can find in cooperation between the USA and China, can make both the US and China stronger and more successful, and deliver greatest benefit to the world overall.  In specific, the areas where China and America respectively have great strengths, where businesses naturally want to work together, are projects that address climate change, environmental protection and preservation, pandemics and epidemics, and water resources. 

GLAVIN: During this visit to the United States you stopped at Stanford University, you had some meetings in Washington, DC and New York, and you’ve now spent some time in Cleveland. What has impressed you most of all the things you’ve encountered?

ZHAO: First, I really enjoyed meeting and talking with the academics and the scientists, the government officials and the business people that I’ve met in each of the cities. Visiting the various campuses and office building has been quite rewarding for me.  What I feel most strongly in this visit is how much of an impact the global financial crisis has had on America government and American business. They are clearly aware that there’s a lot of work left to do, to create employment and to restore the stability that existed before the crisis.

I also sense awareness and a certain admiration on the part on the Americans I have visited, related to the way China has responded quickly to restore our own economy to health. It’s been a unique moment in time for improving US-China exchange and dialogue because Americans, as they work to restore employment and investment to pre-crisis levels, are asking me whether the actions China took to restore stability and momentum in the Chinese economy were applicable in America, was there something America could learn from China? It’s been very interesting dialogue. 

The other thing that impresses me is how consistent and high the level of interest among Americans is toward the three major questions: climate change, environmental protection, new energy. Everyone I speak to seems to be focused on the same things. In these areas - climate change, environmental protection, new energy - America and China are in very, very early stages of a cooperative path. Based in the importance, and the interest, now really is the time for us to concentrate our energies and our efforts, our people and our technologies to work together, so we can make some progress.

With this kind of cooperation, America and China can benefit all of humanity by making a more sustainable and cleaner world, and can also create more coherent markets and employment opportunities for people in the fields of green and renewable technology.