Source: Global Times

The Canadian website "Niagara Now" published an article on September 24, titled: China Will Become the Leading Country in the Field of Science. For centuries, China was bullied and exploited by European powers and its neighboring country Japan, but now China has firmly established itself on the global political, economic, and military stage.

What truly caught my attention is that China has developed knowledge capital that can catch up with and surpass the West. This is evidenced by a report from the British journal "Nature": last year, the number of high-quality papers published by China in the world's top scientific and engineering journals exceeded that of the United States for the first time.

In fact, this trend has become very obvious in recent years: Chinese universities rank among the top 50 universities in the world, and even among the top 10 in the field of science, and their rankings in almost every science category are on the rise.

This should sound an alarm for the West: the knowledge leadership of the West in both basic and applied sciences is rapidly weakening compared to China. This is not limited to China; the scientific systems of India, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries are also becoming more mature and increasingly sustainable.

Now, as budget cuts affect top American universities, some scientists in the United States are seeking alternative opportunities in Canada and European countries. At the same time, China is actively recruiting top scientists and offering them long-term funding support, which is highly attractive to scientists seeking long-term career support in the fields of basic science, applied science, and engineering.

The United States still holds a dominant position in the field of science, but the stability of this advantage depends on the foundation upon which it was built. Without the support of national policies, the leading position of the United States in natural sciences will be shaken, and the leadership that is currently taken for granted in many scientific fields may soon collapse.

This is not alarmist, but a recognition that building a world-class scientific power requires long-term efforts and forward-looking planning. Today, China is making major reforms to its domestic political and governance system to create an environment conducive to the development of science and implement corresponding encouragement and support measures. This includes welcoming talents from abroad, just as Europe, the UK, and the US have done for decades to build their own scientific communities.

Many of the talents that have driven Western success come from abroad, and previously they chose to stay because they received support that was unavailable elsewhere. Now, the situation may be reversing, and rising and established talents from most parts of the world may head to China and other countries. It's time to wake up, or else the United States and other Western countries may lose an important engine of their past success. (Author: William Brown, Professor at McMaster University, Canada; translated by Wang Huicong)

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7554158531662905896/

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