Scientists relying on foreign technology
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China spends billions of dollars importing high-end scientific instruments every year, and its global competitiveness in manufacturing this technology is dwindling, a survey has found.
Conducted by Peking University and the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology 
and the National Science Library, the survey found that in some sectors scientists rely 100 percent on imported high-end instruments.
Importing these high-end instruments, including DNA sequencers and particle colliders, cost several billion US dollars in 2009, an increase of 30 percent on the previous year, the report found, without specifying an exact figure.
The report found China's reliance on imported high-end instruments - the key tools for innovation and scientific breakthrough - has grown heavier in recent years.
The scientific instruments are widely used for testing and analysis in areas such as genetic engineering, space projects, energy-saving technologies, food safety and military services.
However, the gap between China and the developed world in research and manufacturing of these scientific instruments has not closed, but widened, the survey found.
"Without scientific instruments of high-precision, a high-standard achievement is far fetched," Zhu Xing, deputy director of the national center and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee told the China Youth Daily.
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