Chinese Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua said in Beijing Sunday that China has to change its research strategy from copying advanced lab work to stimulating innovation by Chinese scientists themselves.

While expanding international exchange and cooperation in the field, Xu said at a work conference, Chinese scientists need to sharpen their creativity in scheming new ideas and blazing new paths.

"Technological innovation and integration are especially important," Xu said.

The ability to innovate is a decisive factor for any country to win competition.

"China cannot borrow all core or key high technologies from other countries," said Xu, citing that any country could not rely on foreign technologies for long time.

"Innovating is vital to our modernization drive," the minister said.

The history of industrialized countries in the latest decades showed that scientific and technological advances were unceasing engine for economic and social development, he said.

He acknowledged that the current situation in innovation was unsatisfactory and scientific development lagged far behind economic growth.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2004)