Beijing to sharpen country’s R&D focus
China’s total public and private sector spending on hi-tech research and development reached a record high of US$324 billion last year. Photo: AP
Hello, this is Bien Perez from the South China Morning Post’s Technology desk, with a wrap of our leading stories this week.
Amid rising tensions with Washington, Beijing has had to downplay some of the country’s technological catch-up efforts, such as the “Made in China 2025” policy road map. Sensing a threat to US global hi-tech dominance, the Trump administration had seized on the plan as an example of what it sees as unfair state intervention in China’s economy.
In reality, however, China’s pace of hi-tech initiatives has not slowed down. The country’s spending on research and development broke a record last year, reaching 2.2 trillion yuan (US$324 billion), according to data released in August by three Chinese government agencies, covering the private and public sectors. That