Sansha Satellite TV:

With every passing year, we have a more profound sense that science and technology have changed people's lives for the better. Concerning the role of science and technology in improving people's wellbeing, what specific measures have been taken, and what progress has been made? What has been done to ensure food security, support rural vitalization and benefit people's lives and health? And what are the next key tasks? Thank you.

Wang Zhigang:

Thank you for your question. Bringing benefits to the people through science and technology is an important mission. General Secretary Xi Jinping has mentioned four missions of scientific and technological development. He said scientific and technological development must target the global sci-tech frontiers, serve the main economic battlefields, strive to fulfill the significant needs of the country, and benefit people's lives and health. The last mission includes all aspects related to people. The contributions of science and technology to people's health and quality of life mainly include the following aspects.

First, science and technology are improving food security in two aspects. One concerns the land. In addition to arable land, there is development space for land in China. Science and technology are about making the impossible possible. China has been working hard for more than 10 or even 20 years to conserve and utilize arid and semi-arid lands, saline-alkali lands, red and yellow soil, and chernozem soil and has made great achievements. For example, targeting arid and semi-arid lands, the Yangling Agricultural High-tech Industrial Demonstration Zone has developed innovative planting methods and crop varieties over the past 20 years, which have been promoted nationwide, covering over 1 million hectares. For another example, concerning the development of saline-alkali lands, the Agricultural High-tech Industrial Demonstration Area of the Yellow River Delta, through six or seven years of hard work, has developed crops including rice and soybeans that can grow in lands with a salinity of 0.3% to 0.4%, with more than 6,667 hectares of rice having been planted. Furthermore, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the CAS have done a lot of work together to conserve chernozem soil. There are about 70 million hectares of arid and semi-arid lands and 103 million hectares of saline-alkali lands nationwide. One-third or one-fourth of these lands can be transformed into fertile farmland utilizing science and technology.

The other aspect concerns the seed industry. China has developed its own varieties of wheat, corn, hog, and poultry. In particular, all staple crops in China are of these varieties. China has lands and seeds, which are adapted to each other. Thus, science and technology strengthen food security.

Second, science and technology are ensuring energy security. Coal usage takes up the largest proportion of energy consumption in China. Therefore, science and technology play a crucial role in strengthening energy security and making energy consumption more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient to achieve peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. China has achieved a series of breakthroughs in ultra-supercritical power generation and has taken a leading position in ultra-high voltage transmission. Based on the resource endowment of coal, new scientific and technological advances will make it possible to reduce the impact of coal usage on the environment. As Mr. Hou has mentioned, coal-to-olefins technologies, coal-to-oil technologies, and an artificial method of synthesizing starch from carbon dioxide, are all important products of scientific and technological advances to ensure energy security and reduce carbon emissions.

Third, science and technology improve people's lives and health. In early 2020, at the very beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19, China isolated the virus strain within seven days and identified it as a novel coronavirus, which is much faster than SARS in 2003. The test reagent was developed seven days later, without which the development of an effective screening method would have been impossible. Therefore, General Secretary Xi Jinping has noted that as science played a decisive role in defeating the pandemic in history, we now need to rely more on science to fight COVID-19 by adopting science-based measures to prevent and control the pandemic and seek its origin through scientific research. It is by means of test reagents, medicines, and vaccines that we could build strong lines of defense, with the vaccine serving as one line of defense, Chinese traditional medicine being another line of defense, and the neutralizing antibody-drug and the small-molecule drug functioning as the third line of defense. These three lines of defense formed the scientific basis for the nine versions of diagnosis and treatment plans formulated successively.

Fourth, science and technology help address uneven and inadequate development in China. Some underdeveloped areas have paired up with Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen to receive scientific and technological guidance and support in an attempt to tackle uneven development between urban and rural areas and among different regions through scientific and technological means. Moreover, scientific and technological support is needed to advance poverty elimination and rural vitalization. In conclusion, benefiting the people through science and technology is an important mission, and we still have a great deal of work to do. I mainly focus on these four aspects to give you an introduction. Thank you.

Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you to all speakers and friends from the media. Today's briefing concludes now. Goodbye.

Translated and edited by Cui Can, Huang Shan, Yuan Fang, Ma Yujia, Duan Yaying, Liu Qiang, Qin Qi, Wang Yiming, Lin Liyao, Li Huiru, He Shan, Xu Kailin, Wang Qian, Xu Xiaoxuan, Zhang Tingting, David Ball, Tom  Arnstein, and Jay Birbeck. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.