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Jane Cai

The Chinese people have been urged to stay “calm and objective” about the country’s advances in cutting-edge weapons by a veteran rocket scientist, who warned that “a lot of effort” was still needed.
An array of advanced rockets, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, featured in last month’s Victory Day parade in Beijing along with other hi-tech weapons. The spectacle generated considerable public enthusiasm.
In an interview for a popular video account, Zhao Ruian, 84, a former researcher with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said the country had gained an advantage in some areas of aerospace technology but warned people not to let their expectations get too high.
“We’ve made strides, but overall, sustained effort is essential,” Zhao said in the video. “View progress calmly and objectively – our true breakthroughs lie [ahead] in 2050, not hubris today.”
While Zhao gave no explanation for the year, it echoes President Xi Jinping’s strategic objective of “building a world-class military by the middle of this century”.
The informal interview with the “Beijing Daming” vlog, which has around 2 million followers on the social media platform Douyin, was carried out in a park in the Chinese capital.
At the start, Zhao was asked to introduce himself and list some of his achievements.

He replied that he had set out a theoretical framework for missile defence systems such as the Golden Dome network in his 2008 book Space Weapon Orbital Design.
The Golden Dome is a proposed multilayer defence system for the United States, intended to detect and destroy various foreign threats – including ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles – before they launch or while in flight.
In May, President Donald Trump announced plans for the network, which would be a much larger and more comprehensive version of Israel’s Iron Dome system. However, so far no practical details of how it would work have been produced by the Pentagon or US defence contractors.
Zhao also referred to his work on space technology, including his book Deep Space Exploration Orbital Design and Analysis published in 2018, which discussed areas such as Mars exploration and rocket propulsion for deep space missions.
He also co-authored an acclaimed monograph, Nonlinear Optimisation: Theory and Methods, published in 1992 and written with Wu Fang – a student of the celebrated mathematician Hua Luogeng.
The theory led to the development of the launch vehicle for the Shenzhou crewed space programme, according to the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science.
In the viral interview, Zhao described himself as a missile trajectories “pioneer” after spending more than 60 years working in the field.


His forthright comments were a stark contrast to the typically reserved and discreet behaviour of Chinese scientists, and prompted social media jokes that he was speaking out publicly now because his confidentiality terms with his employer had expired.
The September 3 parade in Beijing, held to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, saw more than a dozen cutting-edge weapons making their first public appearances.
But Zhao said the public should be patient with regard to China’s satellite and missile development. “We should work harder and harder. A lot of effort is needed [to produce breakthroughs],” he said.


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Rocket specialist Zhao Ruian has urged the Chinese people to remain calm about hi-tech weapons because ‘true breakthroughs lie in 2050’


Rocket specialist Zhao Ruian has urged the Chinese people to remain calm about hi-tech weapons because ‘true breakthroughs lie in 2050’.


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Why leading Chinese scientist warned public against ‘hubris’ over country’s advances

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Rocket specialist Zhao Ruian has urged the Chinese people to remain calm about hi-tech weapons because ‘true breakthroughs lie in 2050’

Rocket specialist Zhao Ruian has urged the Chinese people to remain calm about hi-tech weapons because ‘true breakthroughs lie in 2050’