香港,2025年1月14日——约瑟夫·马奥尼教授在题为“中国技术进步:其创新模式与理念”的研讨会上就中国技术格局发表了开场发言。本次研讨会是全球明日研究所 (GIFT) 主办的“从丝绸到硅谷:中国技术进步促进全球互联互通”线上会议的一部分。
非常感谢您的热情介绍,我希望我能达到前辈们所制定的标准。我对之前小组讨论的一些与气候变化相关的讨论特别感兴趣,我想这一点会随着我的开场白而更加清晰。我的主要目的是讨论中国作为先进技术社会的崛起,以及这种区别意味着什么,并列举一些例子。我曾在其他几篇出版物中指出,中国可能已经超越了所有国家,成为一个先进的技术社会。但这并不意味着中国在技术发展甚至关键技术领域都处于绝对领先地位。相反,在我看来,中国作为一个社会,其表现优于所有其他社会,并且能够领导、开发和应用有效的技术解决方案,以解决影响社会的重大和次要问题。促进国家乃至全球的福祉,现在,这是通过协调和动员政治和经济利益,加上民众的支持来实现的。正是在这个框架下,我们看到了北京所谓的高质量生产力的快速发展,智慧城市、智慧港口、智慧矿山等等的蓬勃发展。当然,我们也意识到中国拥有世界上最先进的工业体系,它在物流和航运领域处于世界领先地位,而航运仍然是供应链的基石。现在,我不想违背之前所说的,我们确实看到了国有和私营部门之间的分离,但我们也看到它们携手合作,而不是一方为了证券化而指挥另一方,而是我们看到了相互支持的愿望。嗯,通过共同发展,当然我们也看到,其他国家正在效仿中国,比如埃塞俄比亚,我想之前的小组讨论中提到过其他国家,它们都加快了自身的发展,在某种程度上模仿了中国的科技型社会模式。嗯,我认为就埃塞俄比亚而言,根据我的朋友马克斯·米尔和邦·米尔所做的研究,埃塞俄比亚目前的发展速度正在超越德国。现在,我还将从中国和全球的角度,探讨中国发展作为先进科技型社会的战略意义,并讨论这些发展对气候变化的相关性,重点是绿色发展和蓝色经济,并与中国目前正在进行的大规模生态保护和恢复项目相结合。因为我已经表示过嗯,对气候变化的担忧占据了优先地位。嗯,我想先谈谈我去年夏天在乌克兰的实地考察,为了支持我的论文,这场冲突在某种程度上是一场代理人战争,两个依赖化石燃料的经济体争夺能源市场,以及能源的支付方式。在我看来,这是一场绝对对手之间的较量。我认为很多人能够理解这一点,但我也认为美国和俄罗斯是同谋对手,换句话说,他们是对手,都从同一场战斗中获益,因为双方似乎都在就气候变化进行战略博弈,尽管代价高昂,但双方都实现了关键目标。这些目标不仅来自这场冲突,也来自气候变化本身。然而,这些成本与全球南方国家,尤其是中国承担的成本相比,要小得多。因此,这场博弈或最终结果最近,我还在希腊北部,在被山火烧焦的山坡中观察着一个港口。最近,中国的高位港口被美国封锁,嗯,美国正在向雅典政府施压,该港口现在被用来卸载乌克兰的重型武器。我在科蒂尼旅行时,看到新的管道向北延伸到保加利亚,为俄罗斯能源提供替代方案。当然,如果你关注新闻,你会看到洛杉矶山火造成的破坏。嗯,但我认为,重要的是要记住,在2023年,也就是火灾之年,山火产生的碳排放量超过了化石燃料燃烧产生的排放量。现在,分析人士认为,未来的全球安全将受到威慑,这将取决于南北极。美国将导弹潜艇埋在冰层下,用于先发制人打击和反击能力。但这些优势正在随着冰层的融化而消失。最近,特朗普考虑利用经济、精英甚至军事力量来获取格陵兰岛或加拿大,这可能是也可能不是个诡计或玩笑,但很明显,这个想法并不是什么新鲜事。鉴于全球变暖,它早已成为战略思维的一部分。从他自己对这个问题的评论来看,我们可以看出他同样理解气候变化与气候变化之间的联系。当我们反思下周华盛顿发生的变化时,让我们回想一下,拜登政府对环境的负面影响大于对环境的改善。我们无法想象拜登会在阿拉斯加开放受保护的土地进行钻探,巩固美国作为世界石油生产领导者的地位。这是任何一位共和党总统都没有勇气做的事情,但我们知道,特朗普肯定会让事情变得更糟。以各种形式重复他第一任总统任期内的反气候议程。仔细研究中国今天的发展就会发现,中国面临的最大风险并非在于是否会陷入中等收入陷阱,也并非在于南海或台湾问题的挑战,也并非在于其政治体制能否持续适应不断变化的世界,甚至也并非在于中国能否找到解决方案来应对所谓的“新平”——美国试图实施技术封锁。事实上,所有这些问题无论多么严重,在很多方面都比中国自建国以来已经解决的许多更大的问题更容易解决。我认为,中国面临的最大问题,不仅仅是中国,而是气候变化。事实上,多项研究已经得出结论,由于这些问题,中国是风险最高的国家,其固定资产暴露在外,人口在北部、西北部一直到北京都经历了沙漠化,山东、上海和粤港澳大湾区日益受到沿海地区的威胁。我们看到中国正在大力推动绿色创新,引领蓝色经济发展。这些举措不仅仅是机会主义,也不仅仅受到那些追求更高质量生活的大城市中等收入人群的欢迎,而且对于解决这场威胁中国和世界其他地区生存的生存危机也至关重要。事实上,如果你深入挖掘,你会发现它与当今世界发生的大多数冲突息息相关。我知道我的发言有点长,我只是想提出一个略带挑衅性的观点。你知道,我们在学术界有一个与李约瑟悖论相关的问题。为什么中国在明朝没有加速发展其现有的生产力,发展自己的科学工业革命?相反,我们看到明朝的覆灭,然后是一个倒退的王朝,接着是清朝,最后是现代性的危机。就与崛起的西方的冲突而言,我们指出的一点是冰河时代如何扰乱了……农业生产,这进一步削弱了明朝,以及与白银相关的问题,白银从墨西哥流出,破坏了……经济,还有其他问题,但这是两个问题,此外,还有更深层次的文化原因,导致中国……可能没有像西方那样发展。但在新时代,我们还面临着与气候变化(全球变暖)相关的问题,以及……美元持续发挥作用的挑战,以及中国……将美元价值工具化的方式,以及中国不想……暴露其货币,所以,在中国崛起为先进技术社会的背景下思考这些问题,我认为……我们看到的是大量……正在凝聚的……努力应对气候变化、恢复自然资源以及新技术的开发,这些技术将使中国能够在这个新的大国竞争时代生存下来。我认为,这场竞争在某种程度上是以气候变化和解决这一问题的必要性为核心的。
China has already far surpassed all others technologically - Josef Mahoney, Prof. Chinese Politics
Global Institute For Tommorow 2025年2月18日
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ug3ewDSdrQ&t=4s
HONG KONG, 14 Jan 2025 - Professor Josef Mahoney provides his opening remarks on China's technological landscape for a panel on "China’s Technological Advancement: Its Innovation Model and Philosophy". This was part of the virtual conference "From Silk to Silicon: China’s Technological Advancement for Global Connectivity", organised by the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT).
well thank you for your kind
introduction I hope I live up to the
standards uh established by those who
preceded me I was particularly
interested in some of the earlier
discussions with the earlier panel as
they relate to climate change and I
think that'll become apparent uh given
some of my opening statement um my main
purpose is to discuss China's rise as an
advanced technological society and uh
what this distinction means and and
provide some examples of the same now
I've argued uh elsewhere in several
Publications that China as perhaps
already surpassed uh all of the
countries as an advanced technological
Society now this doesn't mean that China
is an absolute leader in technology
development or even key Technologies uh
rather in my definition China as a
society outperforms uh all others and
its capacity to lead develop and employ
uh effective uh technological solutions
to both major and minor problems uh
affecting society and uh promoting uh
National and even uh global
uh wellbeing now this is accomplished uh
through the alignment and mobilization
of political and economic interest
coupled with uh popular um uh support
and it's in this millu that we see the
rapid advance of what Beijing calls
highquality productive forces uh the
proliferation of smart cities smart
ports smart mines and so on um and of
course we realize that China is is the
world's most advanced industrial system
it has it's a world leader in logistics
and shipping still the Cornerstone any
Supply chains now I don't uh want to
sort of um uh go against um what was
previously said certainly we do see a
separation between uh the state and the
private sector but we also see them uh
working hand inand not where one is
directing the other uh for for securitization but where uh we see
the desire to uh support each other uh
through co-development and of course we see
other countries that are that are
following China's lead we can point to one uh Ethiopia I
think uh others were mentioned in the
previous panels uh um uh that have
accelerated uh their own development uh
copying to some extent uh uh China's
model uh as a technological Society um
and I think in the case of Ethiopia
given some of the research done by my
friend Max Meer and Bon uh that that
Ethiopia is currently outpacing uh uh
Germany now I'll also discuss the
Strategic implications of China's
develop vment as an advanced technological Society from both Chinese
and Global perspectives and discuss the
relevance of these developments uh for
climate change with a focus on green
development and the blue economy uh in
tandem with massive ecological conservation and Recovery projects
underway in China today now because I've
already signaled uh that concerns about
uh climate change occupy privilege Place
uh here I'd like to begin with a
reference to my fieldwork in Ukraine uh
last summer uh in support of my thesis
at the conflict there is in part a proxy
war uh between two fossil fuel dependent
economies fighting over energy markets
and how energy is paid for now this is a
contest in my analysis between absolute
adversaries and I think many people can
see this but I also assess the US and
Russia are complicit adversaries in
other words adversaries who are both
benefiting from the same fight in so
much as both sides appear to be playing
a strategic ingame with respect to
climate change and both sides achieving
key objectives despite the high cost
they have likewise occurred not only
from this conflict but but also from
climate change itself however uh these
costs are relative to those born by the
global South and above all China are
much smaller and hence uh uh the game or
the the end game now recently I was also
in northern Greece among the scorched
hillsides from wildfires observing a
port where a a recent uh High Chinese
bit was blocked by the us um uh us pressure on on the
government in Athens and that port's now
being used to offload heavy weapons
testing for Ukraine and as I traveled to
cotini I observed uh new pipelines going
north into Bulgaria uh to provide
alternatives to to Russian Source energy
um and of course if you follow the news
today you'll see the wild the damage of
wildfires in in Los Angeles uh but I
think it's it's important to recall that
in 2023 uh the year of fire carbon
emissions from wildfires exceeded those
from um U those produced by burning
fossil fuels now analysts today believe
that the future of Global Security will
be deter will be determined in the North
and South Poles the US keeps missile
Subs under the ice for First Strike and
counter- strike capabilities uh but such
advantages are melting away with the
melting Ice uh more recently uh Trump's
uh flirtation with the possibility of
using economic or Elite even military
corion to acquire Greenland or Canada
might or might not be a bit of a ruse or
or joke but it's clear this idea is not
something new it's long been part of
strategic thinking given uh global
warming and uh given his own comments uh
on the subject uh we can see that he
likewise understands the the climate
change link uh and as we reflect on the
change happening in Washington next week
let's recall that the Biden uh
Administration uh did more against the
environment than he did for it uh we
could not imagine uh Biden would open
protected lands in Alaska drilling uh
and consolidate America's position as
world leader in petroleum production
something no Republican president ever
had the courage to do but we do know
that Trump will certainly make matters
worse repeating in one form or another
the anti-climate agenda from his first
presidential term now a careful study of
China today will indicate that the
biggest risk on its Horizon is not
whether or not is not whether it will
find itself stuck in a middle-income
trap it's not about challenges in the
South China Sea or the Taiwan issue it's
not whether its political system can
continue to adapt to meet the needs of a
changing world it's not even whether
China can find solutions to what xinping
is referred to as americ America's
attempt to impose a technology blockade
indeed all of these problems however
substantial are in many respects easier
to address than many of the much bigger
problems China has already solved since
the founding of the PRC rather I believe
the largest problem facing China and not
just China it is climate change and in
fact several studies have concluded that
China is the country most at risk due to
these problems in terms of uh exposed
fixed assets and populations
experiencing desertification in the
north and Northwest all the way up to
aijing and uh increasing exposure to
Coastal threats in Shandong jangu
Shanghai and the greater Bay Area of
guong and and Hong Kong so we see
China's dramatic moves to bring more
green Innovation to its economy and to
lead on Blue Economic Development these
are not merely opportunistic they're not
merely popular for Middle income
populations in key cities demanding a
higher quality of life it's also
essential for addressing uh this
existential crisis uh threatening
China's survival and the rest of the
world and indeed if you scratch deep
enough you can find it connected to most
of the conflicts that we find going on
in the world today now I know that I've
opened a little long I would just like
to to lead leave with a little
provocative Point uh you know back uh we
have this this question in scholarship
um related to the Needham uh Paradox why
didn't China for example during the Ming
Dynasty uh accelerate uh the capacities
that it had and develop its own uh SCI
ific industrial revolutions um and
instead um we we see the collapse the
Ming and then a retrograde Dynasty
following with the ching and then the
crisis of modernity that follows in
terms of the conflict with the rising
West um one of the things that we point
to is the Ice Age how this threw off um
um uh production agricultural production
which further weakened the Ming and
problems related to uh silver um silver
coming out of Mexico which undermined uh
the economy there were other problems
but these are two issues and there are
also deeper cultural reasons why China
might not have developed in the same way
that the West did but uh here in the new
era we're we're also facing a problem
related to climate change global warming
and we also face the challenge of the
continuing role of the dollar and
China's um uh the way that China
instrumentalizes the value of the dollar
and so much as China doesn't want to
expose its own currency so thinking
about these problems in the context of
China's rise as as an advanced
technological Society um I think that
what we're looking at are a large number
of um of coalescing um um efforts to
deal with cons conservation recovery but
also the development of new technologies
that will be able to um allow China to
survive this new er of great power
competition which I believe is is in one
way or another centered on climate
change and the need to address that
problem problem