For several decades, science and technology have been among China’s political priorities: they are considered by the political authorities to make up one of the “four modernisations” deemed essential for the country, as advocated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 (the other three being agriculture, industry, and defence). The twentieth Communist Party Congress, held in October 2022, reaffirmed the need to maintain this focus on science and technology.[1]
In the wake of this Communist Party Congress, and in a context of stiff competition on the international stage (particularly from the United States in strategic areas such as semi-conductors and artificial intelligence), the National People’s Congress, at its session held in March 2023, examined the current arrangements for implementing the country’s policies for research and technological development. This led to the adoption of a major plan to reform their organisation.[2] For a number of years, the Ministry of Science and Technology had been responsible for coord