China's Trillion-Dollar Strartups Funds Squandered On Travel and Leisure
Chinese authorities had high hopes for China's chip industry,
expecting to see a "semiconductor miracle," which would then
affirm the "advantage of China's whole nation system," as well
as overcome technology sanctions imposed by the United States
(
https://bit.ly/3PCHPgB).
However, eight years into establishment of China Integrated Circuit
Industry Investment Fund, also known as the "Big Fund," trillions
of yuan have been exhausted with little success in tech innovation.
China's anti-corruption watchdog launched an investigation into the
former and current executives of the "Big Fund" in July, and seven
senior officials linked to the "Big Fund" have demoted since.
In fact, misusing government research and development (R&D)
subsidies and grants is common within China's scientific community.
Where Did China's Trillions in Research Funding Go
In April 2018, Chinese state media Sina Finance published an
article, asking the question, "China has long been spending
trillions of yuan in the field of semiconductors every year, but
where did the huge amount of funds go?"
The article went on to say that in the past several years, roughly
only 40 percent of the country's research funding was actually spent
on science and technology research and development, and 60 percent
was spent on meetings and business trips.
"Whenever there are chances of business meetings, one can reimburse
travel expenses, gasoline cost, and the travel cost can be huge when
people go abroad to attend meetings. Even researchers at Tsinghua
University and Peking University are no exception," it said. "Anhui
University of Engineering has also found that research funds are
used to reimburse entertainment, foot spa, HOA cost and other
expenses unrelated to the project. Moreover, the university noted
a drastic increase of business trips abroad in recent years."
A researcher revealed to Sina Finance that usually for the so-called
inspection trips in foreign countries, the researchers simply made
a brief appearance at their targeted inspection sites, and the rest
of the time was spent on travel, leisure, and sightseeing.
In addition to holding or attending business meetings, Chinese
research institutions are also obsessed with buying equipment,
according to the article.
"Every year, when the funding is allocated, the first thing they do
is to update all the laptops, scanners, cell phones, and other
resources in the team, and sometimes a mentor with several topics
in hand can get himself several of the latest laptops," it said.
R&D Fraud
Many researchers are very skillful at selling an idea-hyping up
a concept, sometimes to the point of committing R&D fraud, in
order to apply for a hefty amount of funding. "Some key projects
can get several millions or even several tens of millions of yuan as
research grant. These people's desire for capital is greater than
getting down-to-earth with scientific research," the article said.
Citing the Wuhan Hongxin scandal as an example, the article
recounted that in August 2002, Chen Jin, then dean of the
microelectronics school of Shanghai Jiaotong University, bought
a Motorola chip from the United States, and hired a few migrant
workers to polish off the MOTO logo from the chip with sandpaper.
He then paid a small company to put a "Hanxin One" trademark on
polished surface of the chip. Through layers of his personal
connections, he was able to obtain various certifications, claiming
that it was China's first high-end DSP chip with independent
intellectual property rights.
"As the whole nation was thrilled at his claim, Chen applied for
dozens of research projects in one shot, and even deceived the
General Armament Department of China's military into filing
a Weapons and Equipment Technology Innovation Project. No one
noticed any problems before or afterwards. So he succeeded in
defrauding over 100 million yuan of scientific research funds,"
the article said.
In an interview with The Epoch Times on Aug. 12, overseas China
expert Lu Tianming pointed out that China's ambition of rapid chip
R&D itself is a good goal to set, but the thing is, the Chinese
Communist Party is rotten to the core.
"It can be said that every single communist official is corrupt," Lu said.
"Actually, it would be abnormal if any official or supervisor involved
would not embezzle from the funds. They all wish to line their own
pockets when given such an opportunity."
