Both the science and the technology are the productive forces, but they affect the social production in different ways. How to balance the relationship between the science and the technology is an important issue for the decision-makers for the development of science and technology. In the early stage of the reform and the opening up, the socialist modernization is the focus of the Party and the country. Deng Xiaoping pointed out that "the key to the four modernizations is the modernization of science and technology", and put forward the famous thesis that "science and technology are the primary productive forces". Facing the huge gap of the scientific and technological level between China and the developed countries, Deng Xiaoping proposed the policy of making use of all advanced technologies and achievements in the world, to promote the international scientific and technological cooperation as the extension of the domestic science and technology policy, which fully reflects Deng Xiaoping's trade-off between the technology and the science. This paper analyzes some typical examples of science and technology as the first productive force, to appreciate the strategic choice of promoting both science and technology in the hope of understanding the current international scientific and technological cooperation and even the national science and technology policy.

reform and opening up  /  international scientific and technological cooperation  /  Deng Xiaoping  /  basic science  /  applied science