Policy: Boost basic research in China

marketing of certain services. Many countries face the challenge of developing effective policies that both respect the ethical standpoint of diverse publics and enable the exploration and application of biomedical technologies. China should be given an equal voice in the global discussion about how best to achieve this. Encouragingly, more dialogue is starting to happen. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese Academy of Sciences joined the US and UK scientific academies in organizing the first international summit on human gene editing last year. Establishing appropriate governance for research in the life sciences is hard for everyone given globalization, the pace of technological advances, the complexity of domestic regulatory ecosystems and a growing international movement to make deregulated markets — not government officials or bioethicists — the arbiters of quality and ethicality. We must therefore strive for a better understanding on all sides of the efforts that different countries are making, and of how they can work together to develop a consensus on international governance. Good rules drive good science. ■