Consider a speech made by Premier Li Qiang at last week's World Economic Forum in the port city of Dalian east of Beijing.
"We need to confront the growth predicament of the world economy," he said, citing the International Monetary Fund's forecast that global output is heading toward its slowest growth pace in decades. China's own deceleration may be one of the biggest contributing factors to this shift: the IMF's predictions show almost all of the slowdown happening in emerging markets rather than rich countries.
What's significant is the solution Li pitched. The current malaise appears to come from the waning of the third Industrial Revolution in IT, he argued, making it all the more urgent that the world lean into clean energy, artificial intelligence and biotech to spark a fourth one.
That prescription is on a collision course with the technological trade war over semiconductors, solar panels, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries that's currently brewing between the US and China. The more that Washington tries to slow down China's technological advances, the harder China is likely to push to move forward.
Since last year, companies that invest in research and development can also deduct twice the sum they spent from their tax bills, a potent incentive. R D spending rose 8.1% in 2023, accounting for about 2.6% of GDP, according to government statistics.
