New guideline will enhance oversight of research in frontier fields

A new national guideline on research ethics and governance will enhance China's oversight of projects in frontier fields, including life sciences, medicine and artificial intelligence, aiming to ensure that scientific and technological progress serves the greater good of humankind, officials and experts said.

The guideline also demands that international research projects abide by the regulations of the participants' home countries and pass ethical reviews. Chinese authorities can organize experts to reevaluate international projects that have high ethical risks, it said.

On Sunday, the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, issued the country's first comprehensive guideline on enhancing governance over ethics in science and technology.