863 Program

The 863 program (<a href="/facts/Simplified_Chinese_characters/UcAD6xXs">Chinese</a>: 863计划) or State High-Tech Development Plan (<a href="/facts/Simplified_Chinese_characters/UcAD6xXs">Chinese</a>: 国家高技术研究发展计划) was a program funded and administered by the <a href="/facts/Government_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China/wGcnIR4s">government of the People's Republic of China</a> intended to stimulate the development of advanced technologies in a wide range of fields for the purpose of rendering China independent of financial obligations for foreign technologies. It was inspired by the <a href="/facts/Strategic_Defense_Initiative/qM0jrPXe">Strategic Defense Initiative</a> proposed by <a href="/facts/U.S._President/oMsfmLb1">U.S. President</a> <a href="/facts/Ronald_Reagan/z6AaKAad">Ronald Reagan</a> in 1983, and was absorbed alongside <a href="/facts/Program_973/hXvRM0VU">Program 973</a> into the "National Key R&D Program" in 2016.
On March 3, 1986, the program was suggested by <a href="/facts/Wang_Daheng/nU7RrBL2">Wang Daheng</a>, <a href="/facts/Wang_Ganchang/bT0Cwl6F">Wang Ganchang</a>, <a href="/facts/Yang_Jiachi/VcShSyls">Yang Jiachi</a>, and <a href="/facts/Chen_Fangyun/AsLuyEdH">Chen Fangyun</a> in a letter to China's <a href="/facts/Paramount_leader/f9vKhW9c">paramount leader</a> <a href="/facts/Deng_Xiaoping/qloJ6G8m">Deng Xiaoping</a>, who approved the program within 2 days. The program was initially led by <a href="/facts/Zhao_Ziyang/yvqrnuJu">Zhao Ziyang</a>, who was the <a href="/facts/Premier_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China/K2UtWsSI">Premier of China</a> at the time, and received a governmental fund of 10 billion <a href="/facts/Rmb/513xLnrK">RMB</a> in 1986, which accounts for 5% of the total <a href="/facts/Government_spending/vEFbaTCX">government spending</a> that year. According to the US <a href="/facts/National_Counterintelligence_and_Security_Center/2QXRomuG">National Counterintelligence and Security Center</a>, the 863 program "provides funding and guidance for efforts to clandestinely acquire US technology and sensitive economic information."
Among the products known to have resulted from the 863 program are the <a href="/facts/Loongson/6AhDhaeU">Loongson</a> computer processor family (originally named Godson), the <a href="/facts/Tianhe-2/SwTCG6Hp">Tianhe</a> supercomputers and the <a href="/facts/Shenzhou_(spacecraft)/h5sA5L6L">Shenzhou spacecraft</a>.

863 Program open-in-new

863 Program