By Caijing staff reporter Li Hujun

From Caijing Online

Last year, China spent a record 371 billion yuan on research and development (R&D), or 1.49 per cent of GDP, with enterprises and non-government entities accounting for half of that expenditure, said China’s Minister of Science and Technology, Wan Gang.

Late last week at a working conference focused on the funding of science and research, Wang said China’s R&D spending has been growing at an average rate of 22.6 percent per year since 1991.

According to a State Council white paper on science and technology, total spending on R&D is expected to reach 2 percent of GDP by 2010 and 2.5 percent by 2020. Regional jets, manned space flight, lunar exploration, waste treatment and new drugs are among some of the major projects the government wants to see implemented in the coming years.