China asks private sector to beef up investment in basic science

Figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development show that China has been closing the gap in science and tech spending in recent decades. Its research and development funding accounted for 0.893 per cent of the nation’s GDP in 2000, and it rose to 2.1 per cent in 2018, ranking 18th on the list. Israel topped the list in 2018, with research funding at 4.3 per cent of GDP.

The China percentage translates into a sum of 1.96 trillion yuan (US$291.6 billion) on research and development in 2018 – a large number given the sheer size of the country’s economy. However, only about 5 per cent of China’s overall research and development spending goes on basic research, lagging a figure of 15 per cent in the US.

“In the US, the federal government, local governments, enterprises, and social entities all invest in basic research, while in China, the funding mainly comes from the central government,” said Wang, adding that the US has the most output in the field as it invests the most.

China has made clear in recent years its ambition to become a global tech superpower, with top leaders – including President Xi Jinping – saying science and technology is one of the main battlefronts of the economy. Part of the campaign is the “Made in China 2025” strategy unveiled in 2015, which aims to break the country’s reliance on foreign technology in sectors such as robotics, semiconductors, aerospace and new-energy vehicles.

The strategy was not mentioned in this year’s government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at the National People’s Congress last Tuesday, amid growing criticism of the project in the US and Europe and trade tensions with the US. But Li did reiterate China’s plan to upgrade its manufacturing industry and boost technology development.