《经济学人》
2024
How worrying is the rapid rise of Chinese science?

How worrying is the rapid rise of Chinese science?

If America wants to maintain its lead, it should focus less on keeping China down

如果美国想要保持其领先地位，它应该少关注如何压制中国

词汇

  • innovation /ˌɪnə'veʃən/ n. 改革, 革新, 创新
  • geopolitical adj. 地缘政治的
  • superiority n. 优势，优越(性), 优等
  • sniff at 对...嗤之以鼻
  • self-regarding adj. 利己主义的
  • struggle to 挣扎着做某事
  • far-flung adj. 偏僻的，遥远的
  • churn out 大量炮制
    • churn /tʃɝn/ n. 奶桶
  • cutting-edge 前沿
  • crown jewels 王冠上的珠宝
    • crown n. 王冠；王权
  • state-of-the-art adj. 最先进的；已经发展的；达到最高水准的
  • resurgent adj. 复活的，复兴的
  • dilemma n. 左右为难
  • agronomist n. 农(艺)学家
  • prowess n. 超凡技术；英勇；勇猛
  • stymie vt. 妨碍,阻挠
  • bureaucracy n. 政府机构；官僚主义, 官僚作风

原文与对照翻译

IF THERE IS one thing the Chinese Communist Party and America’s security hawks agree on, it is that innovation is the secret to geopolitical, economic and military superiority. President Xi Jinping hopes that science and technology will help his country overtake America. Using a mix of export controls and sanctions, politicians in Washington are trying to prevent China from gaining a technological advantage.

如果说中国共产党和美国安全鹰派有一件事达成了一致，那就是创新是取得地缘政治、经济和军事优势的秘诀。中国国家主席习近平希望科学技术能帮助他的国家超越美国。华盛顿的政治家们正试图通过出口管制和制裁来阻止中国获得技术优势。

America’s strategy is unlikely to work. As we report this week, Chinese science and innovation are making rapid progress. It is also misguided. If America wants to maintain its lead—and to get the most benefit from the research of China’s talented scientists—it would do better to focus less on keeping Chinese science down and more on pushing itself ahead.

美国的战略不太可能奏效。正如我们本周报道的，中国的科学和创新正取得快速进展。这种战略也是错误的。如果美国想要保持其领先地位——并从中国优秀科学家的研究中获得最大利益——它最好少关注于压制中国科学，多关注于推动自身发展。

For centuries the West sniffed at Chinese technology. Self-regarding Europeans struggled to accept that such a far-flung place could possibly have invented the compass, the crossbow and the blast furnace. In recent decades, as China joined the world economy, its rapid catch-up and abuse of Western intellectual property meant that it was more often an imitator and a thief than an innovator. Meanwhile, its science was disparaged, partly because it encouraged researchers to churn out high volumes of poor-quality scientific papers.

几个世纪以来，西方一直对中国技术嗤之以鼻。自私自利的欧洲人很难接受这样一个偏远的地方可能发明了指南针、弩和高炉。近几十年来，随着中国加入世界经济，其快速追赶和对西方知识产权的滥用意味着它更像是模仿者和窃贼，而不是创新者。与此同时，中国的科学受到贬低，部分原因是它鼓励研究人员大量炮制低质量的科学论文。

It is time to lay these old ideas to rest. China is now a leading scientific power. Its scientists produce some of the world’s best research, particularly in chemistry, physics and materials science. They contribute to more papers in prestigious journals than their colleagues from America and the European Union and they produce more work that is highly cited.Tsinghua and Zhejiang universities each carry out as much cutting-edge research as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

是时候抛弃这些旧观念了。中国现在是一个领先的科技强国。中国科学家发表了一些世界上最优秀的研究成果，尤其是在化学、物理和材料科学领域。他们发表在著名期刊上的论文数量超过了美国和欧盟的科学家，他们发表的论文被高度引用的次数也更多。清华大学和浙江大学进行的前沿研究数量与麻省理工学院相当。

Chinese laboratories contain some of the most advanced kit, from supercomputers and ultra-high-energy detectors to cryogenic electron microscopes. These do not yet match the crown jewels of Europe and America, but they are impressive. And China hosts a wealth of talent. Many researchers who studied or worked in the West have returned home. China is training scientists, too: more than twice as many of the world’s top AI researchers got their first degree in China as in America.

中国的实验室拥有一些最先进的工具，包括超级计算机、超高压探测仪和低温电子显微镜。这些工具虽然还比不上欧美的“镇国之宝”，但也令人印象深刻。中国还拥有大量人才。许多曾在西方学习或工作的研究人员已经回国。中国也在培养科学家：世界上超过一半的顶级人工智能研究者的第一个学位是在中国获得的，而不是在美国。

In commercial innovation China is also overturning old assumptions. The batteries and electric vehicles it exports are not just cheap, but state-of-the-art. Huawei, a Chinese telecoms firm brought low after most American firms were barred from dealing with it by 2020, is resurgent today and has weaned itself off many foreign suppliers. Although it earns a third of there venue of Apple or Microsoft, it spends nearly as much as they do on R&D.

在商业创新方面，中国也在颠覆旧有观念。中国出口的电池和电动汽车不仅价格低廉，而且处于世界先进水平。华为是一家中国电信公司，在 2020 年大多数美国公司被禁止与该公司进行交易后，华为一落千丈，如今已东山再起，并摆脱了许多外国供应商。尽管华为的营收只有苹果或微软的三分之一，但它在研发方面的支出却与后两者相差无几。

China is not yet the world’s dominant technological power. Huawei still has limited access to advanced chips; self-sufficiency is costly. The country’s many state-owned firms are sclerotic. Much of the spending on research is guided by the state’s heavy hand. And some mediocre universities still produce mediocre research. China’s innovation, in other words, is inefficient. Yet it is an inefficiency that Mr Xi is willing to toleratein order to produce a sheaf of world-class results.

中国还不是世界头号科技强国。华为仍然只能有限地获得先进芯片；自给自足代价高昂。中国的许多国有企业都死气沉沉。大部分研发支出都由国家主导。一些平庸的大学仍在产出平庸的研究成果。换言之，中国的创新效率低下。然而，为了取得一系列世界级成果，习愿意容忍这种低效率。

All this poses a dilemma for America. With more good science comes new knowledge that benefits all humanity, by solving the world’s problems and improving lives, as well as deepening understanding. Thanks to China’s agronomists, farmers everywhere could reap more bountiful harvests. Its perovskite-based solar panels will work just as well in Gabon as in the Gobi desert. But a more innovative China may also thrive in fieldswith military uses, such as quantum computing or hypersonic weapons. It will also aim to convert its technological prowess into economic and diplomatic influence.

所有这些都让美国陷入两难境地。随着更多优秀科学成果的出现，新的知识将造福全人类，解决世界性问题，改善生活，加深理解。感谢中国的农学家，世界各地的农民都能获得更丰富的收成。中国的钙钛矿太阳能电池在加蓬和戈壁沙漠的效果一样好。但是，一个更具创新性的中国也可能在军事用途的领域蓬勃发展，例如量子计算或高超音速武器。中国还将致力于将其技术优势转化为经济和外交影响力。

So far America has focused on the threats, by trying to stymie China using sanctions and by limiting the flow of data, talent and ideas. After all, hawks say, China is itself notoriously secretive. It failed to share its early work on the virus that causes covid-19, a shocking breach of its responsibilities that could have cost lives—possibly millions of them. If Chinese science is thriving thanks to these tactics, then perhaps America should simply be even harder line and more restrictive.

到目前为止，美国一直专注于威胁，试图通过制裁和限制数据、人才和想法的流动来阻碍中国。毕竟，鹰派人士表示，中国本身就以行事隐秘而闻名。它未能分享导致 COVID-19 的病毒的早期工作，这令人震惊地违反了其责任，可能造成数百万人丧生。如果中国的科学因为这些策略而蓬勃发展，那么也许美国应该采取更强硬的立场和更严格的限制。

One of its strengths is openness. America has long been a magnet for the world’s brightest minds, and it should continue to attract them—even from China. Some work needs to be secret, obviously, but a presumption against hiring Chinese researchers would deprive America of precious talent. America must also be open to ideas. Citations have increased, but too few Western scientists take note of Chinese papers. A deal in the 1970s by Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter to enhance academic collaboration was grudgingly extended in March for only six months, because of Republicans’ fears about national security. It should be renewed for longer. American and Soviet scientists worked together even in the depths of the cold war.

其优势之一是开放。长期以来，美国一直是吸引世界最聪明头脑的磁石，而且应该继续吸引他们——甚至包括来自中国的。显然，有些工作需要保密，但假定不聘用中国研究人员将使美国失去宝贵的人才。美国还必须对思想保持开放。引用量增加了，但很少有西方科学家注意到中国论文。由于共和党人对国家安全的担忧，邓小平和吉米·卡特在 20 世纪 70 年代达成的加强学术合作的协议在 3 月份勉强延长了 6 个月。它应该延长更长的时间。即使在冷战最严重时期，美国和苏联的科学家也在合作。

Another strength is America’s dynamic economy, in which the best universities, government agencies and companies innovate. But too much of a scientist’s time is spent on bureaucracy. Finding faster ways to allocate grants, say by lottery, could help. Last, America should not blunt its market mechanism. In China most research money comes from the state; in America the private sector is a bigger spender. It is not White House edicts that find and develop the best ideas, but markets powered by competition.

美国的另一个优势在于其充满活力的经济，美国最好的大学、政府机构和公司都在其中进行创新。但科学家把太多时间花在了官僚程序上。通过抽签等方式，寻找更快的拨款方式可能会有所帮助。最后，美国不应该削弱其市场机制。在中国，大多数研究资金来自国家；在美国，私营部门是更大的支出者。发现和开发最佳创意的不是白宫的法令，而是由竞争推动的市场。

The fact that an authoritarian regime is nearing the technological frontier is alarming. Yet America should not strive to become more like China, but to draw on its own distinctive strengths. The result will be more scientific discovery and technical ingenuity—and ultimately more security.

一个威权政权接近技术前沿的事实令人担忧。然而，美国不应该努力变得像中国一样，而应该利用自己独特的优势。其结果是更多的科学发现和技术独创性，最终是更多的安全。

注释

《经济学人》