How wide is the economic gap between China and Japan? This is question which has been in discussion for decades. Guan Zhixiong of the Research Institute of Economy Trade and Industry said in 2001 that China’s economy lagged behind Japan by at least 40 years.

According to China Youth Daily ,  Zhang Fangyou, president of Guangzhou Automotive Group announced at the 6th China-Japan Economy Seminar held in Osaka that the Guangzhou Automotive Group has become the best licensenced producer of Toyota cars outside of Japan. The joint venture between Toyota and the Chinese enterprise is an excellent example of how China and Japan could complement each other. After the the plant was built, the cars were manufactured and sold all over the wolrld, with the profits being divided between the two. However, China reaped a smaller amount than japan. 

Big corporations in Japan attached great importance to R&D, which was closely related to the national industry policy in Japan. It was understood that Japan’s investment in scientific research accounted for about 3% of GDP and held the leading position in the world.

Due to the big technological gap, Chinese enterprises decided to buy technology from Japan and other industrialised nations. However, Japan has never sold the core and advanced technology to China.

In response the Chinese government assessed the situation and put forward the goal of enhancing prototype development capability during the 11th Five-Year Plan period. Some enterprises also realized the importance of strengthening R&D. At 2006 China-Japan Economic Seminar CEO of eAcess in Japan complimented Huawei Company for their innovations which have surpassed those of Lucent and Motorola and also gave the example of eAccess using the technologies provided by Huawei Company, which surprised many Japanese delegates at the seminar.

But we must admit that  the gap in science and technology between China and Japan is considerable and still has a long road ahead before coming on par to Japan.