China and the Future of Science by Tanner Greer | 21 March, 2026 | The Scholar’s Stage Substack

"even if you believe that political instability or economic uncertainty might arrest China’s upward climb, that might not change the trajectory of Chinese science. All of those Chinese scientists and engineers will still be there. Their labs and facilities have already been built. Their equipment and instruments have already been bought. Their technicians are already trained. That will still be true if Xi Jinping dies of a stroke tomorrow. The more relevant question, especially for this audience, is what does all of this means for us?..." - China and the Future of Science by Tanner Greer

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The Substack article "China and the Future of Science" by Tanner Greer (published on The Scholar’s Stage) argues that China has fundamentally reoriented its entire national apparatus toward a single, overriding goal: becoming the world's leading scientific and technological superpower.

Below is a summary (generated by Google Gemini) of the key arguments and data presented in the piece:

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1. The "Telos" of the Chinese State

Greer describes the Chinese party-state as a "goal-oriented institution" (a characteristic of Leninist systems). He identifies a historical shift in China’s primary objectives: