[Reading Science] How Did China Catch Up with the US That Was Decades Ahead?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] On the 15th, when China succeeded in landing on Mars, everyone was curious. How on earth did China catch up with the U.S., which had been decades ahead in space technology?

◆ Ten-Year Sword (十年摩一劍)

This is not the title of a martial arts novel. It is a line from a Chinese poem meaning "to hone a single sword for ten years," which Premier Li Keqiang of China cited in March, sparking discussion. It expresses the determination to achieve results within ten years by focusing on scientific and technological development, such as semiconductors, which currently face difficulties in self-reliance due to technological shortcomings. Such a commitment is unimaginable in a democracy like South Korea, where governments often falter in less than four years, but it is entirely possible in China’s one-party communist dictatorship. The phrase "Ten-Year Sword" symbolizes the Chinese government and Communist Party’s active and persistent will toward scientific and technological development.

When China was founded in 1949, it was an agricultural country without a single decent factory. Just over ten years later, in the 1960s, it succeeded in developing the so-called "Three Bombs and One Satellite" (atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, artificial satellite). China’s space development competition with the U.S. and the former Soviet Union was not far behind thanks to such persistent and relentless government-level will and effort.

In particular, Chinese authorities integrate administrative departments, research institutions, and production factories into a unified whole regarding space development and scientific technology. They form a scientific research and production consortium that creates an environment focused solely on achieving goals without distractions. This contrasts sharply with South Korea, where administrative agencies, research institutions, and production factories are separate and political turmoil is frequent during regime changes.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ Qian Xuesen’s Return

In September 1955, during the height of summer heat in Beijing, a man in his 40s arrived on a ship returning from the U.S. His name was Qian Xuesen, known as the "Father of China’s Space Program." Qian’s father was a minister in the Kuomintang government. After graduating from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), he worked at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory during World War II. He was regarded as the world’s top rocket scientist at the time, having absorbed U.S. and post-war German V2 rocket technology. Although he had no intention of returning to communist China, ironically, it was the U.S. that sent him back. The McCarthyism wave in the early 1950s branded him a communist. After enduring five years of house arrest and persecution, Qian confirmed that his father’s friend, Chen Shutong, had risen to a high position under Chairman Mao Zedong’s regime and then expressed his intention to return to China. Despite strong opposition from U.S. intelligence agencies, who said "Qian Xuesen is more frightening than five army corps," secret negotiations by Chinese Vice Premier Zhou Enlai succeeded. Above all, they could not stop Qian’s voluntary return, exhausted by being treated as a "red."

After returning, Qian received full support from China’s military leadership. The Chinese military, badly defeated by advanced U.S. weapons during the Korean War ("War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea"), had a strong thirst for new weapons. Qian was immediately promoted to major general and appointed director of the Ministry of National Defense’s Fifth Research Institute, making remarkable contributions to the development of the "Three Bombs and One Satellite." In the early 1960s, with Soviet assistance, he completed China’s first long-range missile, "Dongfang-1." After Sino-Soviet tensions worsened, he developed "Dongfang-2" independently in 1964, revolutionizing China’s rocket technology development. Qian’s return to China is globally recognized as a prime example of "scientific talent repatriation."

Qian was not alone. In 1999, China awarded medals to 22 heroes of the "Three Bombs and One Satellite" project, including Qian. Among them, 19 had studied abroad, and the remaining two had foreign research experience. Having nothing initially, China’s strategy was to "focus on self-reliance while securing foreign support and utilizing existing achievements of capitalist countries," a policy they thoroughly implemented.

◆ Concentrated Investment

Since 2010, China has been actively advancing its "space rise," engaging in space station construction, Mars and lunar exploration, and building Baidu (China’s version of GPS). Especially, Tianwen-1, which successfully landed on Mars on the 15th, demonstrated technology on par with the U.S., including an orbiter, lander, and rover, astonishing the world.

This success is thanks to concentrated investment. As of 2020, China’s total space development budget was $8.1 billion, increasing by 10% annually over the past decade. China’s space development organizations and personnel are enormous. Unlike South Korea, where about 1,000 people at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) are almost exclusively dedicated, China’s National Defense Science and Technology Industry Bureau (SASTIND) leads by setting policies, regulations, annual development plans, and allocating budgets for space programs. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) handles civil space policies, programs, and international cooperation, supporting these efforts. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) manages scientific satellite programs through its Space Science Application Research Center and operates 120 institutions and 24 state-owned enterprises. Actual space technology development and spacecraft and satellite manufacturing are handled by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), a massive conglomerate with eight R&D institutes, 11 state-owned enterprises, and 12 listed companies, employing 180,000 people and estimated to have had revenues of 123.3 billion RMB in 2014.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

◆ U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Still, something feels suspicious. Russia failed countless times, and the U.S. also experienced multiple failed Mars landings. Is it really possible that China instantly mastered the know-how to overcome the "seven minutes of terror" on its own? The appearance of the Mars exploration rover "Zhurong" surprised the world. How could China suddenly produce a Mars exploration rover, a pinnacle of cutting-edge science and autonomous driving technology?

Especially notable was NASA’s reaction. They did not respond to the Mars landing but suddenly issued a statement upon receiving photos sent from Zhurong on Mars’ surface. "As the international scientific community of robotic explorers on Mars grows, the U.S. and the world look forward to the discoveries Zhurong will make to advance humanity’s knowledge of Mars," they said, referring to an "international scientific community."

NASA has long been a target of Chinese hackers. At the end of 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI indicted two hackers from the Chinese hacking group "APT10" for hacking the U.S. Navy and NASA. In 2012, hackers completely breached the security network of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), taking control of computers and stealing information. Investigators revealed that the hackers used IP addresses located in China. In August last year, a NASA researcher of Chinese descent was indicted for leaking information while participating in China’s talent recruitment program, the "Thousand Talents Plan."