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China moves to develop bioeconomy

By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-06-28 14:01

Faced with such economic development problems as population explosion, food shortages, environmental pollution and energy crisis, China will take 10 scientific and technical initiatives to develop a bioeconomy, said Xu Guanhua, former minister of science and technology, at the opening of the 2007 International Conference on Bioeconomy in Tianjin, North China.

Some of the aspects Xu mentioned include: China will accelerate the innovation of biotechnology in agriculture, as well as transgenic, molecular breeding and clone technologies. Taking advantage of technical advances, the country can upgrade and renew its animal and plant varieties, and then feed the world's largest population.

China intends to apply biotechnology to manufacturing to help reduce the discharge of pollution and cut the production costs.

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Another goal is to develop non-polluting and sustainable bioenergy such as fuel ethanol and biological diesel to release the pressure on energy shortages and environmental pollution.

The country will also focus on using more biotechnology in the process of treating waste, through which China can effectively improve its capacity for recovering saline and alkaline areas.

National biological security will be guaranteed, including safe biological labs and safe genetically modified food. Meanwhile, China will be more capable to defend itself from biological attacks from terrorists.

The country will industrialize its biotechnologies, promote the research of new biological products and set up a number of biotech enterprises and bases. China will also enhance its international cooperation on biotechnologies, including facilitating the free flow of international production, technology, expertise and human and financial resources, and establishing joint research institutions and exchange platforms.