Deng Xiaoping’s Views on Science and Technology: Origins of the Sino-U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation, 1977–1979

Abstract

In the late 1970s, after the tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution, the policy of the government of the People’s Republic of China (prc) in terms of scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation with the United States changed from rejection and exclusion to active participation and promotion. In this process, ideas and views played an important role. The outlook of the Chinese leadership and particularly Deng Xiaoping on science redefined China’s national interests, turning the promotion of Sino-U.S. science and technology cooperation into an active policy of the Chinese government. During the 1970s, the two countries conducted large-scale intergovernmental cooperation in the field of civil science and technology, signed the agreement on scientific and technological cooperation and dozens of memorandums of understanding and protocols, and finally, in 1979, established a long-term scientific and technological cooperation system. The article explores Sino-American relations through the prism of scientific and technological cooperation, showing how this contributed to creating long-term friendly relations beyond other high politics issues.