China rose to third in the world in the amount of money it spent on research and development, according to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

China's expenditure in research and development reached US$60 billion in 2001, only after the United States and Japan whose investment is respectively US$282 billion and US$104 billion, according to the Beijing-based Economic Daily.

China's spending accounted for 1.1 percent of its gross domestic products that year, much higher than the 0.6 percent in 1996.

About 40 percent of China's expenditure on research and development in 2001 was covered by the government and the rest 60 percent came from domestic and foreign enterprises.

China has 743,000 people involved in research and development activities and the figure in the US is 1.3 million, Japan 648,000.

The OECD report attributed China's growing expenditures on research and development to the country's increasing investment in core technologies.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2003)