Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the United States from September 22 to 25. Among the Chinese entrepreneurs who accompanied Xi to the US, seven came from enterprises affiliated or in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Holdings Co.

Many members of Xi’s delegation noted that there is still a huge gap between China and the US in core technological capabilities in the information industry. In commenting on this, Li Jun, president of the Dawning Information Industry Co, said that Chinese enterprises have an unfavorable footing in information security and are not competent enough to meet challenges from their US counterparts.

Li went on to suggest that China “spend some time and invest some resources” to raise its IT level, in view of both “competition and cooperation” between the two countries.

In the US, Li attended the 8^th US-China Internet Industry Forum and delivered a speech on cooperation in the digital economy. He said at a closed-door meeting that Xi’s initiative of working together with the US for a peaceful, safe, open and cooperative cyberspace will lay a solid foundation for both countries to jointly boost the digital economy. To attain this goal it is imperative for China to sharpen its innovation edge, he said.

Li said that topics related to big data and cloud computing drew a great deal of attention at the forum, then added that China and the US, and even the whole world, need to address certain issues, such as how to “mine data”, how to promote enterprise development using information technology, and how to make cities “smarter”.

“Chinese enterprises involving big data and cloud computing still lag far behind their US counterparts” in improving tech and business models, Li said. “E-commerce, instant messaging, taxi-hailing software, which of these business models was created by China?” asked Li.

As part of the 49 achievements of Xi’s visit, the US has promised to ease restrictions on high-tech product exports to China. Li said Chinese enterprises should take advantage of this opportunity to improve their own technological capabilities.

“After all, independent innovation is a kind of ‘hard currency’ enterprises need to settle down and survive, ” Li said.

When Dawning went public last year, CAS President Bai Chunli expected it to become China’s IT giant like Lenovo. Li said his company is determined to produce new products to win customers and develop into a world-class IT brand.

He also suggested that complementary enterprises should form alliances to face international competition and sharpen their own competitive edges.

“It is important that seven entrepreneurs of the CAS Holdings system accompanied President Xi to the US,” Li said. “Maybe in the future research institutes under the CAS will join hands with relevant enterprises to further boost Chinese industries’ independent innovation capabilities.”

Dawning Co President Li Jun (Back row, 1^st left) attends the 8th US-China Internet Industry Forum.

Source: China Science Daily