Technology is also a commodity. If you want to sell, then I will buy. In the last two decades, China has implemented this transaction method: a market for technology. However, in recent years, after careful reflection, we have started to look for independent brands and independent intellectual property rights.

Here, I’d like to add another way for the nation to achieve technological innovation. In terms of traditional auto technology, China cannot compete with other countries. However, in the case of electric cars, every competitor is standing at the same starting point. Who is certain that China will lag behind in this technology in the future?

Li Cai (freelance writer): I attended the lecture given by Mr. Lang. On that day, he worded his comments this way: Among the listed so-called hitech companies of China, few have their own core competitiveness. Most of them merely import some elite products and produce them domestically, then claim they are “number ones” in the domestic market. But it must be noted that those “number ones” are dependent on

foreign technologies, just like a puppet state. If the cooperation with foreign companies stops, or unpleasant things happen, these enterprises cannot guarantee their market competence.

I must admit that what he said is reasonable, because China is a developing country and it is necessary for us to import advanced technologies. But he should not underestimate China’s potential. We do have a sense of crisis and we are actively learning from other countries so as to outpace them some day.

It is true that we have few Nobel laureates, but we need time to succeed, to be prominent, and science itself requires time. Capitalism developed decades, or even centuries, earlier than our own socialist system.

No other country can develop as rapidly and steadily as our nation. It proves that we are actively learning from other countries. This kind of active learning environment is vital and conducive to the development of the hitech industry. Even though we do not possess any hitech industry, can that day be far off? Our manned spacecraft technology and nuclear science are near the world’s best.

I want to say that we should evaluate our enterprises in a positive way. Though China is not very strong economically, looking at various figures, no economic power in the world can ignore China. If we don’t have technology, how can we be in that position?

Gai Cheng (scholar of hitech industry theory): Saying that China doesn’t have a real hitech industry or company indicates that Professor Lang has never been to the Chinese Silicon Valley. As far as I know, the R&D budget of Lenovo Group is estimated to be as high as 2.5 billion yuan this year. At the end of 2004, Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC business and became the third largest computer company in the world. The 1,500 original IBM patents now belong to Lenovo and, added to the 1,000 independent patents owned by the former Lenovo Group, Lenovo currently possesses over 2,500 patents. More importantly, Lenovo will continue the momentum of innovation, vowing to put 2 percent of its turnover into R&D every year.

The Chinese Silicon Valley has a culture of independent innovation. If Professor Lang has the time, I urge him to take a tour around the Chinese Silicon Valley.

V815 National Brand Union in Chinese Silicon Valley: We believe Professor Lang’s perspective is inconsistent with the facts. He is biased by citing a negative and five-year-old report on some of China’s hitech companies to illustrate the whole picture of China’s hitech industry development.

The Chinese hitech industry is absolutely not an illusion. Please take a look at the digital camera developed by Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology, cell phone by Xinwei Telecom Technology, chips by Vimicro Corp., computers by Dawning Corp., television chip by Hisense and so on. A great many products with independent intellectual property rights have been recognized by the world. Which one of these is not a hitech enterprise? Which one of those products is not a hitech product? The Aigo digital camera developed by Huaqi was highly praised by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and has won an international patent. The first successful SARS vaccine was developed by a hitech company in the Chinese Silicon Valley. The Shenzhou 6 spaceship is also a hitech product jointly produced by many hitech enterprises in the Chinese Silicon Valley.

It is easy to make a judgment, but hard to develop efficiently. The Chinese hitech industry has formed its own way of rapid development, and an integrated system has been established, including industrial policy, planning, support, branding and marketing. The development of the Chinese hitech industry needs to be viewed in a positive way by all economists.