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The Tsinghua University campus in Beijing, China. - Source: Wikimedia
A recent article:
(Wagner 2026) China surpasses US in research spending – the consequences extend far beyond scientific ranking and clout https://theconversation.com/china-surpasses-us-in-research-spending-the-consequences-extend-far-beyond-scientific-ranking-and-clout-280543 by Caroline Wagner - The Conversation - April 24, 2026 - Archive https://archive.ph/5NSCR
Caroline Wagner is Professor of Public Affairs, at the Ohio State University.
From the article (emphasis added):
- 2019: China “surpassed the U.S. in its share of the top 1%
most-highly cited papers – what some call the Nobel class of
research”.
- 2022: China has taken the “first place globally in most-cited papers
overall”.
- 2024: China has overtaken “the United States in total scientific
publications – the first time any nation has displaced American
dominance since the U.S. itself surpassed the United Kingdom in
1948. Researchers found that China overtook the United States
in scientific output even earlier. That same year, China pulled ahead in
the Nature Index, which tracks publications in the world’s most
selective scientific journals, posting a 17% advantage over the U.S. in
outlets long considered the gold standard of scientific
excellence”.
In 2024, Chinese entities also filed roughly 1.8 million patent applications, compared to the U.S.’s 603,191 applications.
- 2026: “China’s rapid rise in science has hit a milestone.
The country’s investment in research and development has reached
parity with – and by purchasing power measures has surpassed – that of
the United States, according to a March 2026 report from the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Both
nations have crossed the US$1 trillion threshold on research
spending.”
And she continues:
China’s ascent is, in one sense, good news. More knowledge, generated by more researchers across more institutions, expands the global pool of discovery from which everyone can draw. The world benefits when science thrives.
The problem is not that China is investing, but that the U.S. is not.
Definitely an article to read. In addition the OECD report mentioned:
(OECD 2026) OECD overall R&D growth stable; government R&D budgets decline and reorient towards defence https://www.oecd.org/en/data/insights/statistical-releases/2026/03/oecd-overall-rd-growth-stable-government-rd-budgets-decline-and-reorient-towards-defence.html 31 March 2026 - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Additional Information on Research Competition
(Economist 2024)China has become a scientific superpower: From plant biology to superconductor physics the country is at the cutting edge https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/06/12/china-has-become-a-scientific-superpower Jun 12, 2024 - Archive https://archive.ph/D3S4u
(ASPI 2024) ASPI’s two-decade Critical Technology Tracker: The rewards of long-term research investment https://www.aspi.org.au/report/aspis-two-decade-critical-technology-tracker/ Australian Strategic Policy Institute - 28 August 2024 - PDF 72 pages.
If you are on X/Twitter try also the following search for my posts in the past few years:
(from:@metacode) #ChinaSciTech
Nuclear Energy and Thorium
Thorium and nuclear energy goes back to the 1940s in the Barkeley Lab, and although the US operated a ship using it, for many reasons it did not lead to a solution. However China’s determination made the US idea work.
Full transcript of a conversation between Prof. Glenn Diesen and Henry Tillman, the CEO of Aiyana Advisory and Research:
(Pangambam 2025) Transcript of Henry Tillman: China’s Thorium Revolution – 60.000 Years of Cheap Energy https://singjupost.com/transcript-of-henry-tillman-chinas-thorium-revolution-60-000-years-of-cheap-energy/ by S. Pangambam - April 23, 2025 - Archive https://archive.ph/6gHAO
But the story is thorium goes back to the 1830s in Norway as a rare earth, basically. And it was by 1941 in the US at Berkeley, where I went to school later on, of course, both plutonium and thorium were in the mix for the Manhattan Project. But thorium is not explosive on its own. So the choice was made for plutonium.
By 1959, Edmund Teller, as part of the Eisenhower for Safe Nuclear, had developed thorium as a nuclear reactor and presented it to the first US oil company in 1959, saying we have a problem with CO2 and here’s the solution for it because it’s clean burn and it’s non-explosive.
From 1962 to 1972 the US ran the first cargo ship on thorium for 10 straight years, no incidents. And then it also was run at Oak Ridge onshore from 1965 to 1969 for about 13,000 hours. It was sporadic, but in 1972 led by US Admiral Rickover, who was quite a character with Nixon, the ultimate plan was not to use thorium going forward, but they’d use plutonium in the nuclear program.
So from 1972 to 2011, the US backed by the UK had locked down the formula for the use of thorium. Then Fukushima happened. By the time Fukushima happened, the US had decided, we have to go back in time. At some point around 2011, the US opened up that technology to many universities and many governments. It was also led by the research I’ve done by two US senators, one from Utah and one from Nevada, Harry Reid, to say, let’s open this up. If you use this, you have to give the IP back. So they gave this to Jiang Jimen’s son, literally from China in 2011, but it also went to Russia and a number of other countries.
(Lague 2013) SPECIAL REPORT-The U.S. government lab behind China’s nuclear power push by David Lague and Charlie Zhu - Dec 20, 2013 - Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20181123125037/https://in.reuters.com/article/breakout-thorium-idINL4N0FE21U20131220
Jiang Mianheng, son of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, visited Oak Ridge in 2010 and brokered a cooperation agreement with the lab. The deal gave the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which has a staff of 50,000, the plans for a thorium reactor. In January 2011, Jiang signed a protocol with the Department of Energy outlining the terms of joint energy research with the academy.
An electrical engineer trained at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Jiang told a conference on thorium in Shanghai last year China’s thorium project “is 100 percent financed by the central government.”
The protocol stipulates that intellectual property arising from the joint research will be shared with the global scientific community. It excludes sharing commercially confidential information and any other material that the parties agree to withhold. The pact also specifically rules out any military or weapons-related research. “All activities conducted under this protocol shall be exclusively for peaceful purposes,” it says.
Jess Gehin, a nuclear-reactor physicist at Oak Ridge, says the pact allows the two sides to share information about their research.
As project chief scientist Xu Hongjie put it:
Rabbits sometimes make mistakes or grow lazy. That’s when the tortoise seizes its chance.
Comment: If China manages to scale it, 10-15 years from now Trump-like shenanigans will not matter at all. All the Chinese have to do is keep focused and that is what they do.
Started: Thu, Apr 30, 2026
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