Use the intellectual resources of other countries and open wider to the outside world

July 8, 1983

We should make use of the intellectual resources of other countries by inviting foreigners to participate in key development projects and other construction projects in various fields. We haven't recognized how important this is, and consequently we haven't done as much as we should have. In the matter of modernization we have neither experience nor technical knowhow. We should not be reluctant to spend money on recruiting foreigners. It doesn't matter whether they stay here for a long time or a short time, or just for a single project. Once they are here, we should make the best use of their skills. We have been giving them too many banquets and have been too hesitant about asking for their help and advice, when in fact they have been quite willing to assist us in our work.

We should open our country wider to the outside world. Now that the West European countries are beset with economic difficulties, we should lose no time in seeking their cooperation, so as to speed up our technological transformation. We should do the same with the East European countries, because some of their techniques are more advanced than ours and some of ours are needed by them. China provides a huge market, so many countries wish to develop cooperation or do business with us. We should seize this opportunity. It is a matter of strategic importance.

(Excerpt from a talk with leading members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.)

(From Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume III <1982-1992>)