Wang Hongguang, director of the center, said the Chinese government has devoted great efforts to the research and development of biotechnology and its industrialization.

According to him, China had invested some 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in this field in the past two years.

Information shows that China, as the sole developing country participating in the international human genome project, has finished one percent of the sequence test and independently completed the sequence draft for the gene groups of a hybrid rice. It is also the first country to locate and clone the gene causing high-frequency nerve deafness and some genes causing hereditary diseases.

Additionally, China's two-line hybrid rice technology has matured and been popular in many areas. Research in the field of anti-pest cotton has reached the internationally advanced level and China has become the second country to have the autonomous intellectual property rights and independently cultivate these plants.

Chinese scientists have also succeeded in cloning a goat and cow. In addition, there are already 150 types of biological pharmaceuticals in the process of clinical research.

According to incomplete statistics, China, one of the countries with the richest and most diverse biological resources in the world, has about 260,000 varieties of animals, plants and microbes.

Wang said China has nearly 200 major biotechnology laboratories funded by governments at various levels, with more than 40,000 technological and research personnel.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2003)