China has come a long way to show "pockets of excellence" in some fields of science and technology, but it still has a long way to go before it can become a full-blown innovative power, a China expert at a U.S. think tank told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
"It's clear that we've seen China's rise as a manufacturing power. It's clear that we're beginning to see pockets of technological excellence, especially in telecoms, cell phones and some areas of chip design," said Adam Segal, senior research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But are we reaching a point where China is going to be a more broad-based innovator?"
At a symposium Nov. 10 organized by the Keizai Koho Center under the theme "The challenge of China as a technological competitor," Segal said that China faces a set of challenges, including weaknesses in its software, lack of technological entrepreneurship, and the need to secure capital for startups.