Abstract: Among the major marine countries in the world, the United States attaches the most importance to ocean science and technology development strategic plan. In the 21st century, the United States has released two decadal plans to lead the development of its ocean science and technology. The first is Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States for the Next Decade: An Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy (2007—2017), and the second is Science and Technology for America’s Oceans: A Decadal Vision (2018—2028), they determined the direction for the U.S. ocean science and technology development in the new historical period. Through comparative analysis, it is found that great changes have taken place in U.S. ocean science and technology goal, general guideline and priorities. The goals of ocean science and technology have shifted to serve the needs of national development. The general guideline of "one system", "two topics" and "three key concepts" has been clearly put forward. The research priorities have transferred to the applications of ocean science and technology in understanding the ocean, promoting economic prosperity, ensuring maritime security, safeguarding human health and developing resilient coastal communities. Finally, four suggestions are put forward for the development of China’s ocean science and technology in the future, and hopefully they could provide reference for building China into a maritime power. It is proposed that China should strengthen the research and development of forward-looking ocean technology and accelerate the construction of ocean research infrastructure, highlight the role of ocean science and technology in promoting economic prosperity and ensuring maritime security, develop a collaborative and efficient ocean ecological environment technology system and enhance the capability of monitoring, early warning and emergency response to ocean ecological disasters and maritime emergencies, and maximize the use of ocean big data to improve ocean perception, prediction and decision supportability.

Key words: The United States, Ocean Science and Technology Plan, Ocean Policies