China launches gene research push

Jiang Zemin: pushing for breakthroughs

By Alex Frew McMillan CNN Shanghai

SHANGHAI, China -- China is set on a future in life sciences, biotechnology and gene therapy, its senior technology minister said Thursday.

That's a new push for a country that already champions its nascent high-technology prowess.

Xu Guanhua, China's minister of science and technology, gave full flight to the country's biotech dreams, in a speech to CEOs from across the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

"China is the largest developing country in the world," noted Xu, a rising star of Chinese politics. "A nation with low profile in science and technology will inevitably face serious constraints in economic, social and cultural development."

Xu said China does not have to follow the development of the western world. Instead it will follow where the west has lead and leapfrog in select areas, he said.

EXTRA INFORMATION APEC: China 2001 The week-long series of meetings culminates in the leaders' summit on October 20 and 21

Over the next five to 10 years, he said, China will "make full use of our advantages of rich and stable biodiversity resources. R&D [research and development] into functional gene groups, bioinformatics, biomedicine and genetic breeding will be conducted, so as to be competitive in biotechnology and industry in the world."

A risky initiative

The move is not without risks, and some critics wonder if China isn't a little half-hearted. But few doubt the world's most-populous nation could make a run in biosciences.

"This country has got the ingredients," said Alan Carroll, executive chairman of the Pacific Rim Forum. "And they're not going to be caught up in the so-called moral dilemmas. If it wants to do it, they're going to do it."

Executives often think of 1s and 0s, the language of computers, when they think of technology. But Carroll believes AGCT, the language of genes, will be just as important. And unique, finite genes are more patentable than easy-to-imitate computer programs

As American scientists map the human genetic code, some feel the life sciences industry is the world's most promising frontier, after the stalling of the Internet era.

China graduated 240,000 chemical engineers last year, Carroll said, out of 350,000 engineers in all fields. A mere 3 to 4 percent of the population goes to college, so that's a remarkable tally, even for a nation of 1.3 billion.

But China may still be off the mark. Peter Carre, a venture capitalist and owner of the Australian-based biotech incubator Xcelerator, notes that the government continues to espouse the way biosciences will "enhance" other industries.

"We might be, to use a horrible word, in a paradigm shift," Carre said, adding that China needs to stop thinking of biosciences as an adjunct of other industries.

"You've got to back a couple of the fast horses," he said. "I think the life sciences are going to replace the other industries." It remains to be seen if China has that commitment or not, he said.

Fundamental research

Information technology and transportation technology will also continue to be a focus, Xu said. But he returned to life sciences as a theme.

China will push for breakthroughs in fundamental research in gene group studies, informatics, nanoscience, ecology, geosciences, space science and so on.

That R&D will have a broad reach, Xu said, helping improve industries as diverse as agriculture, Chinese medicine, pharmaceuticals and energy.

Xu spoke as China, host of this week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, began selling itself at the APEC CEO Summit.

He was joined by China's minister of planning, and the governor of westerly Sichuan province, China's third-largest.

The mayor of Shanghai, China's second-biggest city, also took the stage. Xu Kuangdi, who has been compared to New York mayor Rudi Giuliani, is playing proud host in what he dub its "golden autumn" weather.

Shanghai at times seems like a city that has prepped for a decade for a coming-out party like APEC. While it has waited for it to arrive, it has posted nine years in a row of growth of more than 10 percent.

The CEO summit pulled executives from the 21 member nations, spanning from Russia to Chile, via Japan.

They gathered in the Jin Mao building, the world's third largest, a stone's throw away from a meeting of APEC members' trade and foreign ministers.

President George W. Bush meets his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin for a one-on-one on the sidelines of APEC on Friday.