Over the past four decades, China's scientific capability has seen tremendous progress, thanks to continuous reforms to remove barriers to innovation, integrating into the global innovation system by attracting foreign capital and working with global research institutions, and benefiting from a relatively stable and open external environment, said Xu Lan, dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University.

Seeking self-reliance in science and technology does not mean that China is decoupling from the world. Rather, this is to reduce its overreliance on imports of key technologies and to make a greater contribution to tackling shared issues ranging from climate change to public health, he said.

Reporter: Zhang Zhihao

Video: Wang Chengmeng?

Video editor: Gao Wenxuan