Monday, February 19, 2018

Rapid Growth in China-Pakistan Scientific, Educational and Cultural Ties

Pakistan-China ties are rapidly growing well beyond the economy and the military with tens of thousands of Chinese and Pakistani citizens regularly traveling between the two countries.

More Pakistanis than ever are learning the Chinese language. China with its world class educational institutions is emerging as one of the top destinations for Pakistanis studying abroad. China-Pakistan relationship is becoming a truly multi-dimensional strategic relationship.   This new phenomenon is the subject of a Pakistani spice company television commercial featuring a young Chinese woman in Lahore making the popular biryani dish using Shan masala.

China-Pakistan Institute:

Headed by Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain, Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) is a non-governmental, non-partisan and non-political think-tank. Its goal is to promote people to people ties between the two nations in defense and diplomacy, education and energy, economy and environment, and with a particular focus on youth and women. PCI is working to promote discussions and in depth analyses with multi-faceted initiatives including conferences, lectures, exchange of visits, journals, e-magazines and documentaries.

Chinese Language:

The Chinese language department at Islamabad's National University of Modern Languages (NUML) has been around for nearly half a century, according to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper. When it was first established in September 1970, there were only about 13 students who took the course.

In April 2005, Islamabad's Confucius Institute was established by The Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), Beijing Language and Culture University, and NUML.

The interest and attendance of Chinese language courses at NUML has soared since the launch of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The year 2017 saw 460 Pakistani students attending the courses.

China's Research Spending. Source: Nature 

Pakistani Students in China:

There are 22,000 Pakistani students attending universities in China, making it the fastest growing destination for Pakistanis studying abroad.

The United Kingdom still remains the top source of international education for Pakistanis.  46,640 students, the largest number of Pakistani students receiving international education anywhere, are doing so at Pakistani universities in joint degree programs established with British universities, according to UK Council for International Student Affairs.

Globally, China has become a more attractive destination for foreign students. It now ranks third after the US and the UK. This year, it is likely to move up to the second spot.

Foreign Students in China. Source: China Power

China's Strides in Science and Technology:

Why is China becoming a fast growing destination for foreign students, including Pakistanis studying abroad? A story in India's "The Wire" online magazine has explained it in terms of the rapid rate of China's progress in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields as follows:

America's National Science Foundation and National Science Board have recently released their biennial science and engineering indicators which provide detailed figures on research and development (R&D), innovation and engineers. But its true message is in a different direction, “China has become,” concludes Robert J. Samuelson in a column, “or is in the verge of becoming – a scientific and technical superpower. This is not entirely unexpected given the size of the Chinese economy and its massive investments in R&D, even so, he says, “the actual numbers are breathtaking”.

1. China is the 2nd largest spender in R&D after the US, accounting for 21% of the world total which is $2 trillion. It has been going up 18% a year, as compared to 4% in the US. An OECD report says that China could overtake the US in R&D spending by 2020.

2. China has overtaken the US in terms of total number of science publications. Technical papers have increased dramatically, even if their impact, as judged by citation indices, may not be that high.

3. The US continues to produce more PhDs and attract more foreign students. But new international enrollment at US colleges was down for the first time in the decade in 2017. The Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric and actions are scaring away students.

4. China has begun shifting from being an assembler of high-tech components, to a maker of super computers and aircraft and given the pattern of its investments in R&D and technology development, it is focusing on becoming the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum communications, quantum computing, biotechnology and electric vehicles.

China-Pakistan Scientific Collaboration 2nd Strongest Among BRI Nations. Source: Nature

Summary:

Pakistan-China ties are rapidly growing well beyond the economy and the military with tens of thousands of Chinese and Pakistani citizens regularly traveling between the two countries. More Pakistanis than ever are learning the Chinese language.  China with its world class educational institutions is emerging as one of the top destinations for Pakistanis studying abroad. It is becoming a truly multi-dimensional relationship which will help Pakistan rise with China on the world stage.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

China-Pakistan Strategic Ties

China-Pakistan Defense Tech Cooperation Irks West

Pakistan-Russia-China vs India-Japan-US

Pakistan Rising or Falling? Myth Vs Reality

Facts and Myths About China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

China Emerges as Top Destination for Pakistanis Studying Abroad

Sec Hagel: India Using Afghanistan to Launch Attacks in Pakistan

Ex Indian Spy Documents RAW's Successes Against Pakistan

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

25 comments:

Riaz Haq said...

#Indians study hard but lack creativity, says #Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. #India #technology #innovation

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/indians-study-hard-and-get-mba-may-be-buy-mercedes-but-lack-creativity-apple-co-founder-steve-woz-1177668-2018-02-26

ndians can't be creative. A lot of people, many in India too, have suspected this. Now this is an opinion of Steve Wozniak, the other Steve from Apple. Wozniak aka Woz who is the man behind Apple's first ever computer Apple 1 and the company's co-founder with Steve Jobs, says that Indian education system is based around studiousness and doesn't encourage creativity.

In an interview, Wozniak also said that he does not believe that there will be any big tech company or breakthrough in India similar to Google, Facebook or Apple. According to Woz India has just Infosys as an example of the big tech company and even that is not innovative. He does not expect Infosys to be in the league of global tech giants anytime soon.

When asked to comment on tech innovation in India by the Economic Times, Wozniak said, "I am not an anthropologist and I don't know the culture of India well enough. I don't see those big advances in tech companies. What is the biggest tech company here, Infosys maybe? I just don't see that sort of thing coming out of Infosys and I have done keynotes for them three times."

He pointed out that Indians lack creativity and that people in India aren't encouraged to pursue creative careers. "The culture here is one of success based upon academic excellence, studying, learning, practising and having a good job and a great life. For upper India, not the lower. I see two Indias. That's a lot like Singapore study, study, work hard and you get an MBA, you will have a Mercedes but where is the creativity? The creativity gets left out when your behaviour is too predictable and structured, everyone is similar. Look at a small country like New Zealand, the writers, singers, athletes, singers, athletes, it's a whole different world," said Wozniak.

Wozniak was also asked about coding in schools. He thinks that coding is very important but it should not be taught to kids before they are 12. He said that human brain gets the power to reason only after 12. "You don't get to a stage of symbolic reasoning until you are 12 years old. Some people get there early, but most people at 12, and that's why algebra can't be taught till you are that age. And programming can be taught only when you are ready for algebra," he said.

Riaz Haq said...

What Is the Next Great Threat to America's National Security?

Stratfor Worldview

The United States is in fact already in the middle of its next great war — even if it's only just starting to realize it. In the latest National Security Strategy, the White House highlighted China's growing technological prowess as a threat to U.S. economic and military might.

As hard as it may be for Washington to admit, China is catching up in the tech race. The question now is whether tech firms in the United States will be able to keep up with their Chinese counterparts' breakthroughs.

--------------

Promote and Protect
the U.S. National Securi
Innovation Base
America’s business climate and legal and regulatory
systems encourage risk taking. We are a
nation of people who work hard, dream big, and
never give up. Not every country shares these
characteristics. Some instead steal or illicitly
acquire America’s hard-earned intellectual property
and proprietary information to compensate
for their own systemic weaknesses.
Every year, competitors such as China steal U.S.
intellectual property valued at hundreds of billions
of dollars. Stealing proprietary technology
and early-stage ideas allows competitors to
unfairly tap into the innovation of free societies.
Over the years, rivals have used sophisticated

means to weaken our businesses and our economy
as facets of cyber-enabled economic warfare
and other malicious activities. In addition to
these illegal means, some actors use largely legitimate,
legal transfers and relationships to gain
access to fields, experts, and trusted foundries
that fill their capability gaps and erode America’s
long-ter m competitive adva nt ages.
We must defend our National Securi Innovation
Base (NSIB) against competitors. The NSIB is
the American network of knowledge, capabilities,
and people—including academia, National
Laboratories, and the private sector—that turns
ideas into innovations, transforms discoveries
into successful commercial products and companies,
and protects and enhances the American
way of life. e genius of creative Americans, and
the free system that enables them, is critical to
American security and prosperity.
Protecting the NSIB requires a domestic and international
response beyond the scope of any individual
company, industry, university, or government
agency. The landscape of innovation does
not divide neatly into sectors. Technologies that
are part of most weapon systems often originate
in diverse businesses as well as in universities and
colleges. Losing our innovation and technological
edge would have far-reaching negative implications
for American prosperi and power.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf

Anonymous said...

There is a joke circulating in India that Afghanistan requested India to lend it electoral voting machines (EVMs) to use in its elections. The request was granted and these Israeli-tech EVMs were sent over. When the tallies were taken, in every seat the winner was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Riaz Haq said...

India lost R&D centre crown to China last year

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/india-lost-rd-centre-crown-to-china-last-year/articleshow/63325695.cms

During the third quarter of 2017, Beijing attracted nine captives or global in-house centres, while India saw eight such centres announced by local and global companies, said a report by HfS Research.

The firms that have set up R&D centres in China include BMW, which opened research unit in Shenyang. Of the nine firms, three of them have committed investments of around $930 million. At the same time, of the eight firms in India, three companies have disclosed investments of around $ ..

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http://nocamels.com/2018/03/chinese-israeli-business-leaders-urge-more-high-tech-cooperation-partnerships-and-lots-of-patience/

Chinese, Israeli Business Leaders Urge More High-Tech Cooperation – And Patience
By Simona Shemer, NoCamels March 07, 2018 0 Comments
China, the world’s most populous country, may be a relatively minor player in the Israeli high-tech ecosystem, according to a study last month which found that Chinese investment makes up just 5 percent of the total activity, but a conference this week in Tel Aviv drew over 70 Chinese investors and business leaders who hailed the Sino-Israeli relationship and urged more cooperation in biotech, digital healthcare, and R&D.

A report in February by the Israel-based IVC Research Center said Chinese direct investment, mergers and acquisitions, and buyout activities in Israel, while on the rise (from 18 Chinese entities investing in Israeli startups in 2013 to 34 last year), were “still waiting for lift off.” The study said that despite the hype, Chinese activity in Israel was not yet significant.

The IVC report emphasized that while the Chinese market holds great potential for Israeli startup, “this market is extremely complex for Israeli high-tech companies, far more familiar with the US and European markets, where they face far fewer cultural and language barriers and more familiar business practices.”

The GoForIsrael 2018 event, organized by Cukierman & Co Investment House and Catalyst CEL Fund held this week at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv, sought to mitigate some of these barriers by inviting top Chinese business figures and hosting a special panel discussion titled “Marketing strategies for Israeli companies in China.” The conference was also chaired by Ronnie Chan, Chairman of Hang Lang Properties, one of China’s biggest real-estate firms, the co-founder of philanthropy foundation Morningside, and “a pioneer of the Israeli-Chinese connection, who has contributed greatly to the strengthening of economic relations between the two countries,” Cukierman & Co. said in a statement.

The event also hosted key decision makers, business representatives, investors, venture capitalists, and leading entrepreneurs from Israel, the US, and Europe, with more than 1,000 participants in attendance. The keynote speech was given by former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon and panels on investing in Israeli companies across fields like biotech/pharma and digital healthcare and medical tech featured guests such as Yossi Vardi, a Chairman of International Technologies and a leading Israeli entrepreneurs, Yair Shamir, former minister of agriculture and Managing Partner of Catalyst Fund, David Braun, head of medical device company Merck Group, Nevo Alva, and the CEO of QR code startup Visualead, the first Israeli company to be acquired by Asian e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The “Marketing strategies for Israeli companies in China” featured Visualead CEO Nevo Alva, John Chan, managing director of China Everbright Limited, a Hong Kong-based financial services company, Sean Jiang, CEO of investment and banking firm Yafo Capital, Jimmy Jin, deputy general manager of Leaguer, a company out of southern China, as well as Haggai Ravid, CEO of Cukierman & Co. who has for the past three years been living in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu.

Riaz Haq said...

The #US cannot halt #China’s march to global tech supremacy. President Xi has "proclaimed that China would blaze its own trail to become a "technology superpower". #technology https://www.ft.com/content/cd681f3e-a5ff-11e8-926a-7342fe5e173f

“In the past, we tightened our belts, gritted our teeth and built the two bombs [atomic and hydrogen] and a satellite,” Mr Xi said. “In the next step of tackling technology, we must cast aside illusions and rely on ourselves.”

Such rhetoric from the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong carries crucial weight. But, as a visual metaphor, the Three Gorges dam is more revealing than Mr Xi was prepared to acknowledge. Although the dam walls were built by Chinese companies, the turbines that generate its electric power were supplied — at least initially — by foreign companies.

The contradiction encapsulates China’s dilemma as it ramps up a techno-nationalist agenda. Its official “ Made in China 2025” programme calls for global leadership in various technological sectors by 2025, but its progress up the value added ladder has — to a significant degree — relied upon foreign technologies and intellectual property.

Thus, China’s response to the trade war is set to be carefully calibrated. Chinese companies are being told by Beijing to cut reliance on US technology and intellectual property in their supply chains, replacing them where possible with alternatives from Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere.

“The US is fundamentally an unreliable economic partner,” said one senior official at the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Chinese state-holding company with combined revenues last year of Rmb26.4tn ($3.8tn). “It is just too risky to rely on them.”

Can China really live without America? The answer supplied by financial markets appears to be “no”, as reflected in the slide in the renminbi’s value against the dollar and a concurrent fall in Shanghai stock prices. But over the longer term, China looks likely to prevail in two important ways. It may be able to de-risk its supply chain by reducing reliance on US imports, notwithstanding difficulties in key areas such as semiconductors. It may also attain its goal of global excellence in tech sectors including artificial intelligence, 5G telecoms, the internet of things, self-driving cars and battery technology by 2025.

One point in China’s favour is that its de-risking activities may be applied only to imports from the US and not to components made by US companies in China. This is a significant factor: the value of products that US companies made and sold in China was about $250bn last year, almost double the $130bn in products imported from America.

The other consideration is the ready availability of alternatives to US tech products. Research by Haitong, a Chinese securities company, finds that in eight of 11 technology sectors the sales in Asia of products made in the EU, Japan, Korea and Taiwan outstrip those of products made in the US. The three sectors in which the US has clear dominance are semiconductors, semiconductor equipment and aerospace.

The semiconductor industry, therefore, is the lightning rod for US-China tech rivalry. China’s vulnerability was laid bare in April when the US banned ZTE Corp, a Chinese telecoms company, from buying American semiconductors and other technology for seven years. The sanction brought ZTE to its knees, before Washington offered a reprieve.

Yet semiconductors are also the area in which China’s ambitions are clearest. Of some $300bn committed to help deliver Made in China 2025, some $150bn is earmarked to upgrade China’s capacity in semiconductors, according to Dan Wang of the research group Gavekal.

And even in semiconductors, the US chokehold is far from total. If the sanctions on ZTE had been applied to its Chinese competitor, Huawei, the damage would have been easily contained. Huawei designs its own chips through a wholly owned subsidiary called HiSilicon, which ranks as the world’s seventh largest chip design company.

Ismael M. said...

The ZTE embargo shook up the Chinese establishment.

According to Adil, this has galvanized China's determination to be independent of US semiconductors, and are going to spend multiple tens of billions of dollars to wean themselves off this dependence. Within the next 5 to 7 years, the Chinese will dominate the semiconductor space. They're offering astronomical salaries to US based engineers, both Chinese and non-Chinese, to lead this new venture.

Adil mentioned a Korean engineer at a director level in the US, was given a SVP role at a million dollar salary. So that's the way things are moving forward.

Riaz Haq said...

#China's #Huawei takes #5G fight to #India and #Pakistan. India, Pakistan and #Sri Lanka are all aiming for the commercial deployment of 5G services in the second half of 2020, with #Bangladesh more likely to launch its 5G network in 2021. #technology https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/5G-networks/Huawei-takes-5G-fight-to-India-and-Pakistan


"Go digital, not political, is a choice that serves the interests of all stakeholders," a spokesman for Huawei Southeast Asia, which includes the Indian subcontinent, told Nikkei Asian Review. "We will try our best to complete the trial for customers, and work together with industry partners to push forward the 5G ecosystem."

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are all aiming for the commercial deployment of 5G services in the second half of next year, with Bangladesh more likely to launch its 5G network in 2021.

Home to one quarter of the world's population, with mobile internet penetration forecast to rise to around 61% by 2025, the region is a potential gold mine for 5G equipment makers such as Huawei which last week reported soaring revenues of $105 billion for 2018.

Still, U.S. pressure on allied countries to bar Huawei from its 5G networks has begun to affect the the company. It's carrier business declined 1.3 percent last year, and this week Britain's IHS Markit said Huawei had fallen behind Sweden's Ericsson as the world's largest telecom equipment maker.

"In India, the policy ambiguity surrounding Huawei's participation in 5G trials, is casting a shadow over operator readiness," Prabhu Ram, head of industry intelligence at Cyber Media Research, told Nikkei. "The government is expected to examine all security related issues before allowing Huawei to take part in 5G trials in India."

---

Close links between Beijing and Islamabad are also expected to boost Huawei's 5G ambitions in Pakistan, which has already benefited from investment worth tens of billions of dollars under China's flagship Belt and Road Initiative.

"Huawei have already established a strong presence in the Pakistani market," a senior Pakistan Telecommunications Authority official told Nikkei. "This should give them an edge."

According to Huawei, 5G will bring industry opportunities worth $1.2 trillion to South Asia and Southeast Asia over the next five years.

"The number of 5G subscribers will top 80 million, Internet traffic will grow by 5 times in total, more than 20 smart cities are on the way, and wireless, digital and intelligent equipment will improve social productivity by 4-8% on average,'' Huawei told Nikkei.

Shrugging off U.S. accusations that it spies on behalf of China, Huawei urged countries across the region to cooperate with equipment vendors who had showed true local commitment.

"In the past decades, Huawei has carried out extensive and intensive cooperation with governments and operators, and we keep bringing innovative, leading, secure and reliable products to all countries and help them build the most advanced and secure connection services," Huawei said.

One difficulty for many telecom providers across South Asia will be keeping prices low enough to ensure adequate consumer take-up rates.

"Attractive tariffs for 5G users will be the key to encouraging a large number of customers" Mohammad Suhail, head of the Karachi based Topline Securities Investors' Advisory.

Charges for data services in Pakistan were higher than in many other developing world economies countries, Suhail said, with equipment outlays and the high prices for 5G spectrum expected to add to cost pressures.

Mahtab Uddin, chief executive of Bangladesh's second largest mobile network operator Robi Axiata, which uses Huawei equipment for its services, said his company was struggling to make a profit and he has urged the government to consider cutting taxes and keeping spectrum prices low.

Riaz Haq said...

#China is top destination for foreign #education for #Pakistan with 28,023 students. #Pakistan ranks third after #SouthKorea with 50,600 and #Thailand with 28,608 students in #China. #India ranks 4th with 23,198, and #UnitedStates 5th with 20,996. https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/457905-china-becomes-top-destination-for-pakistani-students

A total of 492,185 international students from 196 countries and regions studied in China, last year, up 0.62 percent on the previous year.

The number of students pursuing academic education increased by 6.86 percent year-on-year to 258,122, accounting for 52.44 percent of the total.

Students studying for master’s and doctoral degrees increased by 12.28 percent to 85,062. Most international students in China have been self-funded, accounting for 87.19 percent of the total.

The official data shows that China has become the top education destination for Pakistani students as out of all of them enrolled in Chinese universities, around 7,034 are studying on scholarships.

The number of Pakistani students has risen in China mainly because of a series of preferential policies offered by the Chinese government after the launch of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a pilot project of Belt and Road Initiative.

Currently, 6,156 Pakistani students are studying in Ph.D., 3,600 in Masters, 11,100 in Bachelors and 3,000 in Short Term Exchange Programs across China.

Pakistani students are studying Chinese language, engineering, medical, computer science and various other fields.

Various scholarships are provided by the Chinese government to lure international students over – most notably, students from the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries and regions have been facilitated to obtain scholarships under the Chinese Government Scholarship – Silk Road Program.

Pakistani students also enthusiastically participate in cultural activities organized different universities across China.

They set up booths decorated with traditional Pakistani stuff and beautiful posters depicting different social and cultural activities and historical places in Pakistan.

Pakistani students also represent the country in the music, essay writing, and photography competitions to be organized under the Belt and Road Initiative in China.

Riaz Haq said...

Scientists in Pakistan and Sri Lanka bet their futures on China
Researchers are turning to China for support and collaboration as their countries take centre stage in the Belt and Road Initiative.

https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-019-01125-6/index.html

In Pakistan, China has far surpassed Saudi Arabia and the United States as the leading partner in scientific collaborations, according to an analysis of co-authored papers from Elsevier’s Scopus database. ....

Take Wang, who quit her job researching the biochemistry of traditional medicines at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences’ Institute of Food Science and Technology in Beijing to take an academic post at the University of Karachi. She misses her friends and family and it’s a wrench not to be able to play competitive table tennis. But Wang sees the Karachi move as a way to secure her future. “In China, there’s too much competition for promotions, and even as an assistant professor, I had to book flights and be the secretary for my boss. Here, I have autonomy to set my agenda and apply for my own funding,” she says. Wang is looking to work with Pakistan’s herbal-medicines industry. The medicinal plants used in formulations are mostly picked from the wild and “I want to explore whether Pakistani medicinal plants can be cultivated, as they are in China”, she says. “I also want to compare the ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine with those used in Pakistani herbal medicine. I have too many things I want to do.”

Liu is using his virology background to look into a different type of medicine. “I want to explore joint research in areas such as avian influenza or dengue,” he says. China is seeing a spike in infectious diseases in the large numbers of Chinese workers who participate on BRI projects, and Liu thinks this could be the basis for a China–Pakistan project in genomics and disease epidemiology.

The academic contacts with China are growing quickly. Every year, China offers Pakistani students around 7,000 fully funded scholarships to master’s and PhD courses. In February, its ambassador to Islamabad, Yao Jing, pledged to nearly treble these, up to 20,000 annually. Some 28,000 Pakistani students are already studying in China, and around 6,000 are doing PhDs.

And back in Pakistan, Mandarin is being rolled out as an optional language choice (after English) in schools and universities. Most public universities already have some degree of cooperation with Chinese counterparts. The latest will be Islamabad National University, which is moving into the former official residence of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who vacated it on taking office a year ago. The university has partnered with China to build a joint centre that will focus on the environment, climate change, terrestrial and marine hazards and the ocean economy, says Safdar Ali Shah, who heads the China team at Pakistan’s university regulatory body, the Higher Education Commission.

“My generation of scientists did our PhDs mostly in the UK and the USA and that is where many of us still have collaborations,” says geologist Qasim Jan, president of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and an alumnus of King’s College London. “The next generation will be different. After we are gone, most of their links will be with China,” he predicts.

--

In January, Choudhary was hosting the Wuhan virology team and researchers from other universities in China. Two months earlier, he had been in Hangzhou at a ceremony to inaugurate the Chinese branch of the Sino-Pakistan Hybrid Rice Research Center (the Karachi branch opened in 2017). The centre, a collaboration with the China National Rice Research Institute, is testing rice varieties that could be grown in some of Pakistan’s more arid regions.

Riaz Haq said...

Cary Hunag: "#China lags far behind #UnitedStates, #Europe in productivity, sophistication, #technology, management skills, #military and diplomatic strength, and “soft power” – developments in the fields of #science, #education, culture and the arts". https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3006892/if-china-thinks-its-overtaking-us-any-time-soon-heres-wake-call

The warning by the former commerce minister Chen Deming that China should not assume it will overtake the United States to become the world’s top superpower should serve as a wake-up call to those harbouring illusions about China’s place in the world while ignoring the challenges ahead.

“Do not take it for granted that China is No 2, and do not make the assumption that we will be No 1 sooner or later,” Chen told a forum organised by the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based think tank, last Sunday.
The perception that China is the No 2 global power and on the path to become No 1 is based on two questionable assumptions – that China’s stellar growth levels, which outpace those of its main competitors, will continue on the same path, and that gross domestic product or the size of the economy equates to national power.

all these calculations assume is that China’s enviable growth patterns will continue in their present fashion – and it is far from clear that this will be the case. Indeed, the world’s second largest economy has been losing growth momentum steadily since peaking at 14.23 per cent in 2007. It slowed to 10.62 per cent in 2010, 7.29 per cent in 2014 and 6.6 per cent last year.
Tellingly, the outlook looks gloomier than any time in recent memory, with the downward trend having picked up pace quarter by quarter since the start of last year. In the first quarter the rate was 6.8 per cent, in the second it was 6.7, in the third 6.5 and in the fourth 6.4. Though growth has steadied with a better-than-expected 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year, thanks to supporting monetary easing and fiscal stimulus, it is still the lowest rate since 1992, when Beijing began publishing quarterly GDP data.

---------

GDP is a measure of a country’s economic activities, but it does not accurately measure improvements in human well-being and it does not tell the full story about national strength.
In China’s case particularly, GDP growth is closely linked to asset bubbles, speculation and state-led capital investment. This has resulted in much overcapacity and bad debt, producing what economists call “bad GDP”.

----------------


The distinction between GDP and GDP per capita explains why America took until the end of the second world war to surpass Britain as the world’s most powerful nation, despite having surpassed it in GDP terms as early as the 1860s (at least on some estimations – the concept of GDP was dreamed up by Nobel laureate Simon Kuznets in the mid-1930s).

Riaz Haq said...

#Christian clerics in #Pakistan helping #Chinese men target poor Christian girls in Pakistan for #marriage, AP reports. #Trafficking #China #Brides https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christian-girls-chinese-men-target-poor-girls-pakistan-for-marriage-ap-report/ via @CBSNews

Gujranwala, Pakistan -- Muqadas Ashraf was just 16 when her parents married her off to a Chinese man who had come to Pakistan looking for a bride. Less than five months later, Muqadas is back in her home country, pregnant and seeking a divorce from a husband she says was abusive.


She is one of hundreds of poor Christian girls who have been trafficked to China in a market for brides that has swiftly grown in Pakistan since late last year, activists say. Brokers are aggressively seeking out girls for Chinese men, sometimes even cruising outside churches to ask for potential brides. They are being helped by Christian clerics paid to target impoverished parents in their congregation with promises of wealth in exchange for their daughters.

Parents receive several thousand dollars and are told that their new sons-in-law are wealthy Christian converts. The grooms turn out to be neither, according to several brides, their parents, an activist, pastors and government officials, all of whom spoke to The Associated Press. Once in China, the girls -- most often married against their will -- can find themselves isolated in remote rural regions, vulnerable to abuse, unable to communicate and reliant on a translation app even for a glass of water.

"This is human smuggling," said Aslam Augustine, the human rights and minorities minister in Pakistan's Punjab province, in an interview with the AP. "Greed is really responsible for these marriages ... I have met with some of these girls and they are very poor."

Augustine accused the Chinese government and its embassy in Pakistan of turning a blind eye to the practice by unquestioningly issuing visas and documents. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that, saying China has zero tolerance for illegal transnational marriage agencies.

Human Rights Watch called on China and Pakistan to take action to end bride trafficking, warning in an April 26 statement of "increasing evidence that Pakistani women and girls are at risk of sexual slavery in China."

On Monday, Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency arrested eight Chinese nationals and four Pakistanis in raids in Punjab province in connection with trafficking, Geo TV reported. It said the raids followed an undercover operation that included attending an arranged marriage.

The Chinese embassy said last month that China is cooperating with Pakistan to crack down on unlawful matchmaking centers, saying "both Chinese and Pakistani youths are victims of these illegal agents."

The Associated Press interviewed more than a dozen Christian Pakistani brides and would-be brides who fled before exchanging vows. All had similar accounts of a process involving brokers and members of the clergy, including describing houses where they were taken to see potential husbands and spend their wedding nights in Islamabad, the country's capital, and Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

"It is all fraud and cheating. All the promises they make are fake," said Muqadas.

Riaz Haq said...

How China is redrawing the map of world science
The Belt and Road Initiative, China’s mega-plan for global infrastructure, will transform the lives and work of tens of thousands of researchers. By Ehsan Masood


https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-019-01124-7/index.html

As one component of this massive initiative, China is creating what it calls a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a giant oceanic loop that links the country’s shipping to the nations bordering each of the great oceans, including some in Africa and South America. Then there’s the Silk Road Economic Belt, a complicated network of six overland corridors that connect China to some of Asia and Europe’s major cities through railways, roads and maritime paths.

The signs of a scientific BRI emerged soon after Xi visited central Asia in September 2013. The following year, CAS funded an upgrade to a 1-metre telescope at Uzbekistan’s Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute. The improvement paved the way for the Uzbekistan institute to survey the northern sky in collaboration with China’s Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. Uzbekistan has no experience in telescope making, observatory director Shuhrat Ehgamberdiev told the CAS Bulletin, so the most important technological part was done by China’s engineers. This was the beginning of much grander plans by CAS.

The BRI’s scientific component is being masterminded by Bai. Trained in China as an X-ray crystallographer, Bai worked with John Baldeschwieler at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in the mid-1980s on scanning tunnelling microscopy.

Even early in Bai’s career, it was clear he would go far, says Baldeschwieler, who remembers predicting that Bai would one day become president of CAS. During a visit to Beijing in 1995, Baldeschwieler was amazed to find that Bai had arranged a meeting with China’s then-president Jiang Zemin. “We were picked up in a small bus and taken by police escort with flashing lights through Tiananmen Square to the Great Hall of the People.” Young boys and girls were lining the stairs on a red carpet, he recalls.

Under Bai, the science BRI has been running on three parallel tracks. In China, CAS has established five centres of excellence at its institutes, and these host the 200 PhD students that the academy trains every year.

Outside China, it has opened nine research and training centres, in Africa, central Asia, South America and south and southeast Asia — often co-funded by their host countries. The China–Brazil Joint Laboratory for Space Weather in São José dos Campos, for example, is monitoring space weather changes and developing forecast models. In Bangkok, the CAS Innovation Cooperation Center helps Thailand’s universities and technology companies to work with Chinese counterparts, and at the same time gives China a foothold in the region. And then there are hundreds of individual collaborations between CAS and universities in China and elsewhere.

The third track is what CAS is calling the Digital Belt and Road, a platform for participating countries to share the data obtained as part of their collaborative projects with each other and with China. These data include satellite images as well as quantitative data on natural hazards, water resources and cultural heritage sites.

To draw these and other activities together, CAS established a super committee of scientific research organizations in 2016. This network goes by the acronym ANSO, short for Alliance of International Science Organizations in the Belt and Road Region. Its 37 members span the globe, stretching from the Russian Academy of Sciences to the University of Chile. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris is also a founding member. As part of its activities, ANSO plans to support and organize research in BRI countries on sustainable development, including improving food security and reducing water scarcity.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistani students shine at #Beijing Institute of Technology #China. Among distinguished international students from #Russia, #Poland, #Germany, #France, #Kazakhstan, #Egypt and #African countries, 85% of the top award winners are from #Pakistan. http://a.msn.com/0F/en-xl/BBYlsRv?ocid=st

BEIJING: A number of Pakistani students at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), a major research university under the supervision of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, were awarded “best student of the year” for their performance during current academic year.

Out of total distinguished international students from Russia, Poland, Germany, France, Kazakhstan, Egypt and African countries who won the award, 85 per cent belonged to Pakistan, according to a data released by the institute.

Manzoor Sutlan, a student of Armament Science and Technology Department, excelled in the research on molecular dynamics simulation, co-crystallization to decrease, sensitivity of explosive materials.

Similarly, Syed Anees Haider Zaidi of Management Science and Engineering was awarded excellent student award for research in green supply chain.

Raja Hamid Dhanyak carried out research in electronic science and technology and Syed Zaheer from Mathematics department of the university conducted research in geometry and were declared excellent students.

Two students Zahoor Ahmed and Shujah-ur-Rehman from School of Management Economics excelled in carrying out research in environmental sustainability, energy economic and accounting respective.


Zeeshan Masood, a student of School of Automation and Ali Muhammad Rawahid, a student of aerospace engineering excellently performed during their research in control science and engineering and electric propulsion respectively.

Ubaid Khan, Qasim Umer and Adnan Tahir, students of school of optics and photonic, computer science and life sciences respective were selected or the excellent award for research in optical engineering, machine learning, software maintenance and bioinformatics and neurobiology.

More than 2,500 international students from 137 countries are currently enrolled at the university.
The largest student population is from Pakistan, South Korea, Russia, Poland, Germany, France, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Thailand.

Every year, the university nominates some students for excellent students of the year on the basis of their performance.

Riaz Haq said...

#China will provide Rs 2 billion for smart university project in #Pakistan to introduce advanced #digital technologies in universities with focus on distance education. #digitalpakistan #education #CPEC #highereducation #distancelearning https://nation.com.pk/11-Apr-2020/china-will-provide-rs2-billion-for-smart-university-project-in-pakistan

China will provide Pakistan with an unrequited assistance of Rs 2.048 billion for completion of a smart university transformation project.

The project belongs to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework to promote Pakistan’s economic and social development. The first phase of the pilot program includes 50 public universities, according to qq.com, a Chinese news website.

The project aims to create a more attractive university environment by introducing advanced digital technologies in universities. The project will also focus on developing distance education and promoting cultural progress, thereby expanding the influence and coverage of university education.

According to the agreement signed by China and Pakistan, the project covers a total of 124 public universities, and 400 smart classrooms need to be prepared, including 200 classrooms in the first phase of the pilot.

Riaz Haq said...

Omnipotent Tencent eyes promising high-tech industries for future
By Zhang Dan Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/24 22:12:33

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1192625.shtml

Chinese tech giant Tencent has invested 10 billion yuan ($1.41 billion) in a large-scale big data center in North China's Tianjin, covering an area of 280 mu (18.67 hectares).

Equipped with 300,000 servers, the center will provide significant support to the company's business in North China and serve domestic internet users while offering comprehensive cloud platform services to other enterprises.

Closely following Tencent's investments in recent years, Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based veteran tech industry observer, found cloud-services have become top priorities for the company.

"Once finished, the data center will greatly facilitate Tencent's cloud service capacity and help with its partners," Liu said.

Owning China's most popular messaging app WeChat, the omnipotent tech giant is eyeing more.

And, Tencent is preparing to buy a stake in Oxford Nanopore, a biotech firm leading the UK's charge to develop testing kits for COVID-19, Sky News reported on June 19.

Investing in a diverse range of business sectors, from e-commerce to video gaming, from ride hailing to fintech, and from electric cars to social media, the tech giant has a vision for promising industries in the future.

So far, Tencent has built two major labs for artificial intelligence (AI) and cutting-edge technologies, covering AI, robotics, quantum computing, 5G and the Internet of Things.

"It is notable that Tencent has invested in multiple areas. More importantly, it does not seek control over the companies that it invests in. Instead, it empowers the companies and helps them grow together," Liu told the Global Times on Wednesday that Liu Qiangdong is still the decision- maker for e-commerce platform JD.com, rather than Tencent.

Like fellow conglomerate Alibaba, Chinese tech giants do not seek a particular label, but dabble in all areas, Liu said. "In the future, Tencent and Alibaba will perform as platforms, assisting developers and partners to explore, research, test and expand."

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Tencent's stock price soared. After eliminating weight price, the share surpassed a record high on January 29, 2018 and has witnessed 28 percent growth since 2020.

Liu noted that it shows the capital market remains optimistic about Tencent's future due to its far-sighted layouts in different industries, of which some have already achieved good results.

"The destiny of China will be driven by tech companies. The 'new infrastructure' is based on technological manufacturing and technological infrastructure building, relying on giants like Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba and the like," Liu said.

After domestic tech giants go international, they will definitely challenge the positions of Western tech giants, namely Google and Facebook, he said, giving credit to the better services and multiple functions of Chinese apps.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) recently published a survey of 2,500 global innovation executives and found Huawei had made an impressive leap - jumping 42 places to rank 6th among all the most innovative companies around the world.

Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com are all in the top 50.

"Digital, networked and intelligent applications make China's economy and Chinese society more resilient in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak," Ren Yuxin, chief operating officer of Tencent Holdings, said at the Fourth World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin on Tuesday.

He noted smart logistics, online healthcare services, online education and telecommuting have facilitated China's work resumption accurately and in an orderly manner.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan’s Performance in Global Impact Factor Race


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6115561/


Pakistan is a home to more than 200 million people, 189 Higher Education Commission (HEC) chartered universities and degree awarding institutes4 including 29 medical universities, 157 medical schools5 125 engineering, 92 management sciences and 28 agricultural institutes.4

In Pakistan, there are 371 HEC indexed journals in various academic disciplines of science and social sciences4. In the last week of June 2018, Philadelphia USA based, a notable indexing institute, Thomson Reuters, Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science, currently known as “Clarivate Analytics” released a global science and social science journals Impact Factor (IF) list of year 2017.6

Impact factor represents the total number of citations to a journal’s articles divided by the number of articles published during the previous two years. It is widely used in the academic world as a yardstick of a journal’s prestige. From Pakistan, out of 371 only 12 (3.24%) academic journals have achieved a place in ISI-Web of Science.

Worldwide, 12271 science and social sciences journals are indexed in the ISI-Web of Science, their IF is ranging from 0.001 to 244.58.6 The Cancer Journal for Clinicians USA achieved a top position in the world with Impact Factor 244.58. The other top ranking journals are New England Journal of Medicine USA 79.25; Lancet USA 53.24; Nature UK 41.57; and Science USA 41.05.6 These journals are leading the world and have maintained their topmost positions in the global IF race.

In our environs, China is leading the region with 203 academic journals achieved a remarkable position in ISI Web of science with IF 0.0045 to 15.393. India has 104 with IF 0.096 to 2.658; Iran 42 IF 0.280 to 2.667; Pakistan 12 IF 0.280 to 1.217; and Bangladesh has 4 with IF 0.214 to 1.532. Only one Journal from Pakistan, “Pakistani Veterinary Journal” exceeds the IF 1.217.6

While comparing the quartile factor of the journals, subject category in percentile rank, the top 25% of journals in a particular category are placed in Q1, next in Q2 and so on. 41 Chinese journals achieved a position in first quartile Q1, Q2: 63, Q3:57 and 62 journals in Q4. India has Q1: 0, Q2: 4, Q3: 26 and in Q4:74. Iran has 42 academic journals from them Q1: 1, Q2: 4, Q3: 12 and in Q4:25. However, Bangladesh has 4 ISI-Web of Science indexed journals only one journal placed a position in Q3 and 3 in Q4.6

The quartile ranking of Pakistani journals is: 2 journals in both Q2 and Q3 and the remaining 8 journals are in Q4. Only one Journal, Pakistan Veterinary Journal exceeds the IF 1.217 and two journals placed a position in quartile 2.6

In medical sciences, Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences achieved an IF 0.719; Journal of Pakistan Medical Association IF 0.718; Journal of College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan- JCPSP IF 0.439.6 These medical sciences journals are establishing a platform to publish quality research but still the road is rutted and needs its renewal. They should fascinate the international science community and enhance the research visibility in the global science to upsurge the IF and quartile ranking of the academic journals to compete internationally. Sadly, few Pakistani journals, which are celebrating their golden anniversaries of 50 years, have yet still failed to achieve a place in ISI Web of Science.

Riaz Haq said...

China-Pakistan health corridor | By Dr Muhammad Shahbaz in China

https://pakobserver.net/china-pakistan-health-corridor-by-dr-muhammad-shahbaz/


There are more than 68,000 medical students studying in China making up 13.8% of the total 492,000 of university students and Pakistani students rank No.2 with overall 28000 students studying in different fields.

Currently more than 7500 Pakistani medical students are studying here and so far more than 15,000 students have graduated from China since 2001. The majority of them have learned MBBS.

A number of them have got Masters and PhD Degrees. CPMA will play an important role to solve problems of Pakistani medical students and doctors.

In Pakistan, there are 281072 registered doctors with Pakistan Medical Commission(1 doctor for 782 people) a majority of these doctors need medical training and advanced medical equipment.

There are 32030 specialist doctors (1 specialist doctor for every 6868 people) registered with CPSP.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics report 2019 there are 133707 beds in hospitals and dispensaries making it 1 bed for 1645 people and national health infrastructure is comprised of 1279 hospitals, 5527 BHUs, 747 Maternity & Child Health Centers, and 1400 TB centres.

China has vast healthcare facilities with 8 million health workers, including 3 million practicing doctors, 800,000 surgeons, 6 million nurses, and 27,215 hospitals.

CPMA can provide platform for doctor and medical staff exchange programs can be established to train doctors and medical staff in Pakistan. China has 102 surgical robots in 84 hospitals, plus advanced laparoscopic surgery machines.

Pakistani doctors and surgeons could learn advanced medical and surgical skills especially in the field of robotic and laparoscopic surgery.

The concept of CPMA was put forward in 2018. There has been a dire need of a platform to link Chinese and Pakistan healthcare system and to highlight the deficiencies in the medical Education system and to promote the cooperation in Medical Education, Research, Training, Exchange programs & establishing a multidisciplinary links between China and Pakistan.

Journal of China-Pakistan Medical Association is also an excellent initiative launched by CPMA to enhance medical education and research innovation and provide a platform for medical students and professional to publish their research work.

Pakistan Medical Commission, Pakistan Medical Association and College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, King Edward Medical University & University of Health Sciences can cooperate with institutes to start medical and surgical training programs.

Pakistani Ambassador to China H.E Mr. Moin ul Haque, in a message, congratulated the CPMA President and all the team of CPMA for the excellent initiative and pledged Pakistan Embassy’s support for CPMA to further strengthen the ties in healthcare field and promote China-Pakistan Friendship.

The year 2021, marks the 70th anniversary of China Pakistan diplomatic relations China Pakistan Health Corridor is vital for the prosperity and healthy cooperation.

CPMA will provide a platform for Pakistani Medical students, doctors, researchers and allied medical professionals to achieve excellence in the field and communicate internationally with Medical Institutes, Hospitals, Nursing & Paramedical , Research & Training Centres, IT, R & D, and Government Institutions.

Pakistani hospitals can be digitalized. Big Data centres can be established in top hospitals, tracking and keeping record of patients will be easy in this way. Telemedicine joint sessions can be held frequently”.

Pakistan and China medical institutions have started cooperation and a number of MoUs have been signed between the medical institutions of both the countries.

Riaz Haq said...

China Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Science under CPEC in the Offing

https://nation.com.pk/03-Oct-2021/china-pakistan-joint-research-center-on-earth-science-under-cpec-in-the-offing

The Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives directed reverent authorities to finalize action plans within 30 days for four mega-projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), including the establishment of China Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Science, according to a report published by Gwadar Pro.

In this regard, Federal Minister for PDSI Asad Umar presided over the review meetings of the newly constituted Working Groups on Science and Technology and Information Technology Cooperation at the 10th JCC of CPEC.

The minister directed the action plans for four projects including the establishment of the China Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Science,the acquisition of Oceanographic Research Vessel,the establishment of the Institute of Smart Semiconductor and the establishment of Silicon Solar Cells,PV Panel Fabrication Facility of 500 MW/annum. These projects were made part of CPEC in the 10th JCC meeting.

Minister for Science & Technology Shibli Faraz said that with the joint efforts of both countries, science and technology applications should be used to accelerate the growth of the economy and solve the problems of the citizens.

We need to go for a proper plan & strategy with a regular monitoring system so that Pakistan can obtain maximum benefit from technology and expertise of the Chinese side, Mr. Faraz added.

The newly formed JWG on Information Technology, which was approved during the 10th JCC, was also discussed in another meeting. The participants discussed Broadband Connectivity, Technology Parks/ IT Parks, Cyber Security, Software and Hardware developmentin detail.

Information technology is the future of Pakistan and in the last one or two years, Pakistan has witnessed rapid growth in this sector, said Federal Minister for Information Technology Aminul Haq and he added that Pakistans software exports increased almost 47% in the information technology sector.

This sector now will further develop and expand through technical collaboration with China, according to Mr. Haq, adding there is also a need to launch new technical assistance programs for Pakistan to meet the professional requirements of the growing IT Industry in the country.


Federal Minister Asad Umar directed the IT Ministry to submit concept notes on the above sectors to M/o PDSI within 30 days so that the fast-moving and strategic initiatives could be discussed in the upcoming JWG.

"The role of the Ministry of IT must be appreciated as they are striving hard to meet the international standards of technological advancement and progress," Asad Umar added.

Riaz Haq said...

#China-#Pakistan #AI excellence center to promote industrial development. The center will be jointly built by #Wuhan University of #Technology (WUT) and Pak University of Engineering and Emerging Technologies (PUEET) in #Islamabad http://en.ce.cn/Insight/202111/05/t20211105_37064989.shtml

WUHAN, Nov. 5 (Gwadar Pro) - Pakistani Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque attended a signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding recently on establishing an Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence in Pakistan.

The center will be jointly built by Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) and Pak University of Engineering and Emerging Technologies. On April 8 this year, Haque led a delegation to visit WUT and exchanged views on the construction plan of the two universities.

While addressing the signing ceremony, Haque said that there are more than 40,000 Pakistani students nationwide in China, including 1,000 in Wuhan. “Educational cooperation between the two countries will not only help Pakistani students in their careers and studies, but also help achieve high-quality development of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” said Haque.

Haque also expressed his hope that the MOU will serve as a new starting point for the educational cooperation between China and Pakistan. He said that the center will further strengthen bilateral cooperation in emerging technologies and also open new avenues for high quality development of science and technology, talent cultivation and high-end research.

WUT Party Committee Secretary Xin Sijin welcomed Haque’s delegation and said that educational cooperation is a solid cornerstone of CPEC. “On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan, we will take this opportunity to vigorously promote our cooperation with Pakistani universities”.

“WUT attaches great importance to the cultivation of Pakistani students and has signed cooperation agreements with several Chinese state-owned enterprises to jointly cultivate international students from countries and regions along the Belt and Road. In the past five years, WUT has recruited a total of 173 Pakistani students mainly majoring in engineering technology and management,” said Xin.

In addition, WUT’s state key laboratory of silicate building materials has carried out an inter-governmental cooperation project, helping Pakistan recover its buildings in areas hit by disasters with green building materials, Xin added.

As the project leader, Dr. Atta ur Rahman, Chairman of Pakistani Prime Minister’s Task Force on Science and Technology, expressed his gratitude to WUT online for its strong support to Pakistan. He believes that the center will focus on emerging technology and turn breakthroughs in science and technology into actual productivity and benefit the two counties’ social and economic development.

During his visit in Wuhan, Ambassador Haque and his delegation also signed an agreement on establishing sister-province relations between Hubei and Sindh Province, inaugurated China-Pakistan Friendship Square, and signed several cooperation agreements with other universities in Hubei.

Riaz Haq said...

6th Academic Forum on China-Pakistan Scientific, Technical and Economic Cooperation held

http://en.ce.cn/Insight/202111/28/t20211128_37121821.shtml


“This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Pak-China diplomatic ties and there has been a renewed focus on cooperation in the fields of higher education and science and technology. Realizing the importance of higher education, science and technology, and innovation, both countries had taken great initiatives or cooperation in these fields," Mr. Moin ul Haque, Pakistani Ambassador to China highlighted on the 6th Academic Forum on China-Pakistan Scientific, Technical and Economic Cooperation under the “Belt and Road” Initiative held on Saturday.

In 1976, Pakistan and China signed an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation and so far under this agreement, 18 protocols of bilateral scientific and technological corporations have been implemented. Now both sides are working on formulating the 19th protocol. The ambassador explained that the 19th protocol would focus on emerging technologies in the areas of smart agriculture, nanotechnology, environmental protection, energy conservation, and storage system design.

As CPEC moves to industrialization and high-quality development, China-Pakistan cooperation in the fields of higher education and science and technology assumes greater importance and will have a new dimension. The Ambassador suggested both countries intensify institutional linkages between academic and research institutions to do focus research and provide guidance to industries businessmen on engaging and emerging trends in technologies.

Mr. Xie Guoxiang, Minister Counselor, Embassy of China in Pakistan underlined that scientific, technological, and economic cooperation and exchanges are an important part of omni-directional, multi-field and in-depth exchanges and cooperation between China and Pakistan. The intergovernmental scientific and technological cooperation mechanisms including CPEC JWG on science and technology have guided the direction and gathered strength for deepening cooperation in scientific and technological innovation between the two countries.

Mr. Xie Guoxiang further maintained that "China will do its best to firmly support Pakistan to embark on a development path in line with its national conditions and firmly support Pakistan's grand vision of realizing a 'new Pakistan'."

Dr. Talat Shabbir, China-Pakistan Study Centre (CPSC), Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad (ISSI), and Dr. Di Yuna, Dr. Di Yuna, Executive Director of BTBU PSC, signed the memorandum of academic cooperation on behalf of both sides.

Mr. Wang Zihai, Honorary Investment Counselor of Pakistan, President of Pakistan China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, mentioned that CPEC is not only the game changer for Pakistan but also a major project to change the regional situation. Mutual benefit and win-win results can be achieved by actively attracting other SCO member states to participate in CPEC construction.

As part of the forum, BRI Youth Forum has received a total of 45 contributions from postgraduates from 24 universities/institutions. Excellent papers are selected by the evaluation experts, and 15 students are approved to give speeches at the forum.

The forum was guided by the Department of International Cooperation, China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Beijing Association for Science and Technology (BAST), Embassy of China in Pakistan, Embassy of Pakistan Beijing, and jointly organized by Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) and ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF).

Riaz Haq said...

Centre for #BRI, #China and #Pakistan Studies to be established in China. It will facilitate cooperation in #technology, #education, #digital #economy, #film & #culture, #infrastructure modernization, #tourism, human resources #skills development, etc. http://en.ce.cn/Insight/202201/07/t20220107_37237988.shtml

Having recognized the importance of the business model transformation and innovation that are required in the architecture, engineering, construction, ICT, media, entertainment, tourism, and education fields, both Chinese and Pakistan business enterprises establish this important Centre for business cooperation and market research.

The main objective of this partnership is to establish a platform to drive the initiatives for collaborative projects for Pakistani and Chinese communities. The Center will facilitate cooperation in IT, education, digital economy, film and culture, infrastructure modernization, tourism, human resources skills development, etc. The aim of the Center is also to build economic empowerment of the communities and fight poverty.

The companies from both sides recognize the comprehensive capabilities of Chinese engineering companies in the infrastructure and will encourage the Pakistan companies to learn from their experience.

They will also facilitate large scale exchange of businesspeople to help boom investment and trade activities, and increase the understanding of each other.

Belt and Road Consultants Pvt Ltd (BRC) is a leading company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The main objective of BRC is to provide assistance to local businessmen and foreign investors from the participant countries of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) to invest in and outside Pakistan. BRC, through well-knitted linkages within the participant countries of BRI at the public and private levels, provides consultancy services in the areas of Culture, Education, Science and Technology, Media, Research and Development, Tourism, Transportation, Exchange of Ideas, Goods, and Services. BRC consists of a group of professionals and business enterprises that are leaders in their respective fields.

BIM Service Center aims to enable individuals to build skills for business through various service projects. The motivation is to carry out win-win cooperation and open up a better future.

Muhammad Asif Noor, CEO, Belt and Road Consultants Pvt Ltd and Jiang Hongshen,

Founding Director of Zhejiang Province BIM Service Center and Professor of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology signed the MoU.

It is anticipated that the MoU will further progress the initiatives by the Government of Pakistan and China to improve trade and investment partnership between China and Pakistan.

Riaz Haq said...

China-Pakistan Digital Corridor to enhance cooperation in IT sector: Pakistani Ambassador--China Economic Net

http://en.ce.cn/Insight/202210/21/t20221021_38186192.shtml


BEIJING, Oct 21 (China Economic Net) – Pakistan and China have agreed to launch three new corridors, including the China-Pakistan Digital Corridor that would help enhancing cooperation in different fields of I.T, said Pakistan's Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque, in an interview with China Economic Net (CEN).

Moin ul Haque told CEN that Pakistan has a rich repertoire of talent and human resources in different fields of science and technology and IT-based science and technology have become very important for Pakistan.

"We would be an important source of help for China in terms of software development. So, we are working together to set up training centres in Pakistan for developing software in different fields of IT", he stated.

He further said that the two countries recently agreed to launch three new corridors: the China-Pakistan Green Corridor, which will focus on the agricultural environment, food security, and green development, the China-Pakistan Health Corridor which will help Pakistan get efficiency in the medical field, and then the China-Pakistan Digital Corridor which will boost Pakistan's IT industry.

Ammar Jaffri Former Additional Director General FIA and Founder of Digital Pakistan said that emerging technologies have now become a lifeline for the achievement of The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) & targets.

"We are aiming to organise an international conference about artificial intelligence on 23rd March 2023 in which local and foreign enterprises would participate and we would take strategic decisions to engage the government of Pakistan, and international organisations in our mega projects", he mentioned.

He further said that AI in areas of cyber security, SDGs, and emerging technologies is a much-needed zone where Pakistan has to work with China while Pakistan has a young population advantage in the region.

Riaz Haq said...

China is a top destination for Pakistani students with some 28,000 Pakistani students studying in China. China has received returning Pakistani students with a warm welcome, facilitating them to continue their studies with same zeal and enthusiasm.


https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1060100-china-top-destination-for-pakistani-students


After three years of break-off due to the pandemic, Waseem Abbas, a Pakistani student pursuing his doctoral degree in China, finally returned to Beijing together with some 20 fellow students at the beginning of April to continue study in a prominent Chinese university.

“It’s inspiring to see everything goes back to normal on a safe basis”, he said, adding, “From boarding to getting off the plane, hailing taxes and entering campus, we go on unhindered, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Wednesday. He told that there is a surge in the number of Pakistani students returning to China after the country lifted its Covid-related restrictions on inbound visitors at the beginning of this year. In the past two years, while lab research was suspended partly, his quest for knowledge did not. Together with his supervisors and classmates, he published seven papers on feed additives and one SCI-indexed paper is in the pipeline.

Moreover, by working part-time with a Chinese feed technology company that has presence in Pakistan, he paved the way for working in Beijing after graduation as he wishes. “In Pakistan, livestock production contributes over 60% of the total agricultural output value. Around 60% of our feed additives, an essential element for livestock health, are imported from China. After the floods last year, they have a significant role to play in recovering Pakistan’s poultry sector”, he said.

Riaz Haq said...

UNESCO data on outbound international students in 2020

http://data.uis.unesco.org/index.aspx?queryid=3807#

Pakistan: 64,604 students


-------------


Bangladesh 49,151

Brazil 89,151

Canada 51,156

China 1,088,466

Egypt 43,243

India 516,000

Iran 66,701

Malaysia 55,311

Morocco 63,001

Nepal 95,268

Nigeria 71,753

Pakistan 64,604

Syria 87,057

South Africa 12,295

South Korea 100,610

Russia 57,591

Vietnam 132,559

UK 40,074

USA 109,827

Riaz Haq said...

Outbound mobility trends for five key sending markets (of international students) in Asia (in 2022)

Bangladesh (70,000) , Nepal (125,500), Pakistan (103,190), Philippines (62,000) and Thailand (40,720).

https://monitor.icef.com/2023/03/outbound-mobility-trends-for-five-key-sending-markets-in-asia/


Pakistan
The most recent UNESCO data (2020) counts 64,065 Pakistani students abroad in higher education. Outbound mobility from Pakistan was over 103,190 in 2022 when we consult more recent statistics published by government sources in various destinations. There have been large increases in Pakistani students recorded recently in the UK, Australia, US, Canada, and Germany.

The top three destinations for Pakistani students currently are UAE, UK, and Australia.

UAE: 24,865 in 2020 according to UNESCO
UK: 23,075 in 2021/22 (+62% y-o-y)
Australia: 15,875 in 2022 (+15%)
US: 8,770 in 2021/22 (+17%)
Germany: 7,115 in 2021/22 (+22%)
Canada: 6,405 in 2022 (+38%)
Kyrgyzstan: 6,000 in 2020 according to UNESCO
Malaysia: 4,700 in 2021
Turkey: 2,385 in 2020 according to UNESCO
Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Qatar: At least 4,000 in 2020 according to UNESCO