BEIJING - China's spending on research and development (R&D) has seen rapid growth in the past 25 years as the country pursues a strategy of development through scientific and technological progress.

A report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that China's R&D spending surged by an average of 20.3 percent annually between 1992 and 2017, with the amount for last year reaching 1.76 trillion yuan (about $257 billion), about 123 times the amount in 1991.

By the end of last year, the country had 6.2 million employees in R&D. R&D spending in 2017 accounted for 2.12 percent of China's gross domestic product.

According to the 13th five-year plan for national science and technology talent development (2016-2020), China will increase its annual per capita spending on R&D to 500,000 yuan by 2020, up from 370,000 yuan in 2014.