“Education, science and technology, and talent function as a basic and strategic underpinning for Chinese modernisation,” the statement said.
It comes as the United States and its allies apply increasing pressure on China to limit its growth in science and technology. But it also comes as China faces a number of major domestic challenges – problems the party leaders appeared to concede with the communique’s inward focus.
The Central Committee also acknowledged those challenges and the need to double down on “reform” of science and technology to advance the country and meet public expectations.
“We must purposefully give more prominence to reform and further deepen reform comprehensively with a view to advancing Chinese modernisation in order to better deal with the complex developments both at home and abroad, adapt to the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and live up to the new expectations of our people,” the committee said in the communique.
“We must fully implement the strategy of invigorating China through science and education, the strategy of developing a quality workforce and the innovation-driven development strategy.”
Developing this pool of expertise could involve overhauling sci-tech institutions and mechanisms in the pursuit of “key technological breakthroughs”.
President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the role of science and technology to build “a modern socialist country in all respects”.
Addressing the party’s national congress in 2022, he said: “We must regard science and technology as our primary productive force, talent as our primary resource, and innovation as our primary driver of growth.
“We will continue to give high priority to the development of education, build China’s self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and rely on talent to pioneer and to propel development. We will speed up work to build a strong educational system, greater scientific and technological strength, and a quality workforce.”
Ma Liang, a professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing who specialises in public policy studies, said enabling a country to become more innovative had to involve education, science and technology, and talent.
“The only way” to overcome the serious challenges facing China’s science and technology sector was to push forward and deepen institutional reforms of the three as a whole, he said.
Ma said that in the past, any transformation of China’s science and technology system had not taken place in tandem with changes in education and expertise development.
That meant that the pool of talent – including leading experts and the engineers needed to realise innovation – had not been adequately supported and motivated.
He said there was a “significant gap” between the talent trained by the existing education system and the talent needed to drive innovation.
For example, he said, there were not enough people with the know-how to turn scientific and technological discoveries into real products, and there was still a shortage of educated people willing to devote themselves to such innovation, especially in basic research.
Poor systemic integration and assessments were also barriers to a more skilled work force, said Huang Lu, a professor from the Beijing Institute of Technology.
Huang told state-run newspaper Guangming Daily in June there were “structural contradictions” preventing the development of top-level talent.
“The integration between education, science and industry is superficial, and segmentation of disciplines fails to meet the demand for innovative interdisciplinary talent. Additionally, the mobility of scientists among universities, research institutes and enterprises is limited,” she said.
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Huang said departments in these various areas had to work together to meet industry needs, improving how talent is evaluated and creating a supportive environment with incentives.
Science and technology has played an increasingly large role within the Central Committee’s plenary sessions and decisions over the years.
In 2013, the focus was on the environment, including awareness and protection of natural resources. That same year, extreme smog throughout the country prompted the adoption of national air-quality action plans.
In 2020, China targeted scientific self-reliance and challenge “the world’s scientific and technological frontiers”, a response in part to US-led curbs and sanctions.
The Central Committee also touched on science education and development, but the strategy was less about reform and more about self-reliance and a global outlook.
These themes could still be part of the committee’s full decision, which has yet to be made public.