China's drive to cement status as superpower

In the race for superpowerdom, the volume of scientific research each country publishes matters

It has been reported that China published more than 420,000 scientific studies in 2016.  This was the highest in the world accounting for about 19 per cent of the international total.  This report emanated from the National Science Foundation (NSF), based in Virginia.



These figures indicate how China has poured resources into cultivating scientific expertise.  Beijing is now the world’s second-largest spender on research and development, accounting for 21 per cent of the world total of nearly $2 trillion in 2015.  The US, with 26 per cent of the total, was the only country ranked higher.

America still calls the shorts in fields such as biotechnology and nanotechnology research but China’s rapid advance in areas such as commercial drones and supercomputers.  These are fields where it now leads the world and this has raised concerns in Washington.