China's tech cooperation won't be hindered by US 'decoupling'

Brazil will seek Chinese technology and investment to develop a semiconductor industry in the South American country despite US attempts to discourage association with China in this sector, Brazilian president's top foreign policy adviser and former foreign minister Celso Amorim said in a recent interview, according to a Reuters report on Saturday.

Brazil's willingness to adhere to scientific and technological cooperation with China, to a certain extent, indicates that with China gradually becoming an important partner to Brazil's tech sectors, it will be an irreversible trend for the two emerging economies to strengthen high-tech cooperation, which will be of great significance to their respective economic and social development.

For China and Brazil, which are both large developing countries with common interests and aspirations, the huge benefits of common development as a result of bilateral technology cooperation is not something that can be easily overlooked. Since 1982, when Brazil and China signed an agreement for scientific and technological cooperation, the two countries have inked scores of bilateral accords, particularly in the areas of aerospace, mathematics, climate change, forestry, and energy, among others.

For instance, in December 2019, the jointly-developed China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite-4A (CBERS-4A) was sent into orbit from a base in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi Province, advancing aerospace cooperation between the two countries. Also, since 2003, the Rice Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (IRGA), Brazil's leading rice-producing state, has been working with experts from the Hunan Rice Research Institute.

High-tech cooperation between China and Brazil is only part of China's efforts in seeking international cooperation in science and technology. Over the years, China's circle of friends for global technological innovation cooperation is becoming increasingly big, with wider industry coverage, which will not be hindered by the technological containment of individual countries.

Indeed, many problems facing the international community today, such as climate change, food security, energy shortage, and environmental pollution, point to the growing need for the countries to attach great importance to scientific and technological cooperation despite the US' "decoupling" push.

At present, global scientific and technological innovation cooperation is facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, there is growing demand for international cooperation in technological innovation. The rapid development and widespread application of emerging technologies present significant development opportunities for all countries in the world, which regard technological innovation as a strong driving force for their economic recovery and future development.

On the other hand, there are headwinds of vicious competition and anti-globalization facing global scientific and technological innovation cooperation. Some advanced countries like the US see technological competition between different countries as a zero-sum game, and have roped in its so-called allies to suppress and clamp down on catch-up efforts by companies in developing countries like China, in a bid to monopolize their technological advantages.

China has always committed to cooperation with other countries on technological innovation to share the dividends of development. China's scientific and technological progress over the past decades has benefited from the effective implementation of the independent innovation and reform and opening-up, and from its integration into the global network of scientific and technological cooperation.

With growing scientific and technological capabilities, China has been actively promoting technological cooperation and exchanges with developing countries. China has established tech cooperation with over 160 countries and regions and signed more than 110 inter-governmental sci-tech cooperation agreements, according to media reports. Chinese technological achievements such as high-speed railway and space station have attracted cooperation interests from countries across the world.

Therefore, both China's technological progress and the trend of closer cooperation with other countries show that the US' "decoupling" push cannot prevent China's high-tech sector from going to the world.