China
China, the world's most populous country with almost 1.4 billion people, is an important strategic partner for Germany in research and development. Since 2010, China has been the country with the most extensive export of goods and the second largest economy in the world. In 2018, China was Germany's largest trading partner for the third time in succession, with an import volume from Germany of around 93 billion euros.
The share of research expenditure in China, totaled approximately 280 billion euros and amounted to 2.17 percent of its GDP in 2018. China has trained the most talented scientists in the world and accounted for the most recognized patents (1.5 million) in 2018. China made significant progress in research and internationalization especially in technical and scientific disciplines. Research and internationalization has been particularly advanced in the technical and scientific disciplines. This is refected in various rankings including Bloomberg's Global Innovation Index 2020, which now lists China on the 15th place and, according to the US National Science Foundation, China is ranked second as scientifically strong nation.