RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN THE MODERNIZATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN CHINA

This dissertation explores the question of how and to what extent United States-People's Republic of China (U.S.-P.R.C.) relations in the field of Science and Technology (S & T) contribute to the modernization of S & T in China. It approaches this question by: (a) proposing a model of how U.S.-P.R.C S & T exchanges function; and (b) examining three case studies--earthquake, acupuncture, and esophageal cancer research--to see how U.S.-P.R.C. S & T relations have worked out in practice. The dissertation focuses on such issues as the institutional versus noninstitutional, formal versus informal, governmental versus nongovernmental mechanisms through which U.S.-P.R.C. S & T relations were developed and are carried out. Among the major findings of the dissertation are the following: (1) The contribution of U.S.-P.R.C. S & T relations to the modernization of S & T in China is quite uneven from one field to another. (2) The relative success or failure of U.S.-P.R.C. S & T relations in contributing to China's modernization is dependent in part on the relative proportion of different types of scientists and administrators in the different areas of cooperative research. (3) The modernization of S & T in China is dependent in part on the development of mutually supportive internal and external relationships between and among American and Chinese scientists and administrators.