[dis-sys]

> Either China or the US has the largest overall PPP-adjusted R&D budget in the world. (The US data here is 2016 while China’s is 2018 so it’s hard to tell exactly.) China’s investment is about the same % of its GDP as France’s.

On per capita term, China is sitting there not doing any real R&D. It is spending $388 per capita on R&D, that is slightly higher than 20% of what South Korea is spending. CCP owes an honest answer on that matter - why R&D spending has been kept to that low on per capita basis.

It is completely meaningless to talk about total spending. China can cut say 80% of its R&D spending and the total $ figure will still be much higher than some developed EU nations. Such total figure is nothing more than some cheap propaganda material to fool those who don't understand the simplest maths. For such total figure, 1.3 billion Chinese become the silent majority with all their potentials & benefits ignored.

The reality is simple here - China has a very long way (decades & generations) to catch up with the west on R&D spending in its per capita term. Given the population size, it is suppose to have a total spending of US, EU and Japan combined, before that anything else is nothing but propaganda.

[curiousgal]

Except R&D spending per capita doesn't make much sense. It's not like the entire population is researchers...

[haecceity]

Thought it was satire. Pretty good.