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Opinion
How China’s research prowess will shape course of 21st century
China has gone from rice paddy to the world’s factory, but it will complete its modernisation in research labs
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Dr Andy Xie is a Shanghai-based independent economist specialising in China and Asia, and writes, speaks and consults on global economics and financial markets.
The rise of Chinese research labs is accelerating tech breakthroughs across a broad array of fields. It is leading to a new era of abundance based on cheap energy, new materials and their applications. The US-led tech embargo against China helped jump-start its investment in research. Breakthroughs are accelerating and being turned into efficient scale production. This could be the most important dynamic in shaping the 21st century.
China solved its food self-sufficiency problem in the 1980s with free market reforms in the rural sector. It solved a shortage of manufactured goods in the 2000s by becoming the factory of the world. It must go through research laboratories to achieve technological independence and eventually dominance. China has gone from rice paddy to factory, but it will complete its modernisation in labs.
China spent 3.93 trillion yuan (US$568.8 billion) on research and development last year, accounting for 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product. However, this number still understates the extent of Chinese research. Research spending goes further in China than in the West. For example, the drug research and discovery process costs much more in the United States than in China.
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