China’s path towards becoming a major world player in science and technology

Introduction Since the adoption of economic reforms and opening to the outside world, China has experienced rapid economic growth. In recent years, China has especially focused on increasing its R&D efforts. For instance, China’s spending on research and development (R&D) reached 1.02 trillion yuan (US$162.24 billion) in 2012 (AsianScientist 2013), representing 2 per cent of the country’s GDP. In addition, China has the second largest number of researchers after the United States (OECD 2008).