China is expected to master key biotechnologies before 2010 and
become a world leader in the field, a top science official said
yesterday.
It will also make breakthroughs in 20 bottleneck technologies
relating to oil and gas prospecting and drilling while developing a
digital database to help find more oil resources, Vice-Minister of
Science and Technology Liu Yanhua said.
The ambitious goals were set in the nation's blueprint for
science development in areas of social progress, such as the
environment, health, resource and public safety, during the 11th
Five-Year Plan (2006-10). The blueprint was released yesterday by
the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), at the opening
ceremony of its two-day national science and social development
convention.
More reserves of metal resources will be built before 2010 and
the total amount of usable metal resources is expected to grow by
between 1.5 and 2 billion tons, according to the blueprint.
"The focus is on the exploration of rare metals," Liu said.
Technologies for prospecting and developing oil and gas
resources in the deep water in the South China Sea will be
introduced, as well as those for monitoring the marine environment
in China's exclusive economic zone, which extends to a distance of
200 nautical miles, 370 km, out from its coast, and other important
sea areas.
"The current situation of low-level usage of marine resources
will change," Liu said.
In the field of environmental protection, breakthroughs are
expected to be made in 10 to 15 crucial technologies relating to
ecological restoration for rivers and lakes, and in 30 technologies
on urban air-condition monitoring and soil pollution control, the
blueprint said.
Also yesterday, the ministry launched its third project for
social progress, entitled the "Regional Sustainable Development
Science Promotion Act." It follows the Spark Plan, which began in
1986 and the Torch Plan of 1988, which greatly promoted processes
in the agricultural science and hi-tech industries.
During the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), more than 24,000
scientific discoveries were made and 3,000 of them have been
patented, Liu said.
Among the most important achievements were the invention of 22
new medicines, including seven chemical, seven biochemical and
eight traditional Chinese medicines.
There were also breakthroughs in seawater desalting and in
developing the offshore oil reserve in Bohai Bay. Facilities each
producing 10,000 tons of fresh water per day are being set up in
East China's Shandong Province, while new technologies in offshore
drilling are helping to make Bohai Bay the third largest oil
production base in East China.
(China Daily April 27, 2007)