Zhu Chen

Chinese Academy of Science

The Chinese Academy of Science's vice-president, Zhu Chen, has spoken out in defence of the way China funds science. The country's tendency to spend billions on centrally planned prestige science projects instead of investing in basic science was recently criticised in a series of Nature editorials in a Nature supplement published in English and Chinese.

Speaking to The Scientist, Chen challenges the authors' right to comment on another country's policies. He also questions their understanding of the connection between China's key national priorities and the direction of its research.

Meanwhile, China's National Natural Science Foundation is going against the general funding trend, asking dozens of American-Chinese scientists to review key funding proposals as a way of reducing conflicts of interest.