China’s economic planners are used to setting ambitious targets, and its latest five-year plan running to 2025 is no exception. Here are some of the most impressive numbers outlined by the government at its annual National People’s Congress, which kicked off Friday.
Research Spending to Rival U.S.
China’s leadership is worried about U.S. sanctions cutting off access to core technologies, and wants to make the economy more dependent on innovation as traditional growth engines like urbanization are slowing. A top priority is increasing spending on research and development, which covers basic scientific research and spending by companies on the development of new products.
The government is targeting 7% annual growth in R&D spending through 2025, which would bring its total spending to 3.76 trillion yuan ($580 billion) by the end of the period. That’s more than the $548 billion the U.S. spent in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available.
Innovation Ambition
Annual