China has become a science / engineering super power over the past 20 years

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/06/12/china-has-become-a-scientific-superpower

BDFL of Quilibrium, Eng @ Farcaster, ex-Coinbase, always opinionated, never hydrated

/quilibrium

creating and destroying; built flying cars & autonomous vehicles, now building /faust, more here: /july, web: july.rocks

no doubt China committed to be a technological power, & clearly is one. but as @cassie said, the source is crucial here. top 1% cited papers is a game, political. Persuasive use of open access journals, such as "high-impact" journals, are effectively pay-to-play. China is more than happy to drop $5-$12k per paper to get it in these journals, which feed a citation loop. Not implying that they got much of that chart by merit, but certainly there is a boost from OA which skews in their favor, and feeds ability to get requisite prior work to aim for the highest Nature/Science/Cell family offerings. All that said, their growth is certainly impressive, just mainly commenting on OA use. I tried to find a breakdown by country, but could not. I could certainly be way off, but this is what I have noticed personally.