A research report from Germany made Germany unable to sit still: it turns out that China is so powerful today.
"The United States is no longer Germany's largest trading partner." Data released by the German Federal Statistical Office on October 23 showed that in the first eight months of 2025, China replaced the United States as Germany's largest trading partner with a total trade volume of 166.3 billion euros.
Recently, the German patent agency econsight's analysis of China's 15th Five-Year Plan shows that China has begun to make every effort to attack the advantages of the United States in all fields, while Europe has completely fallen behind.
A recent analytical report released by the German patent agency ECONSIGHT, by tracking the number of patent applications in detail, depicts the China-U.S. European competition pattern in the cutting-edge technology field.
The report covers 23 cutting-edge scientific fields, all of which fall within the category of invention patents with the highest technical content.
Analysis shows that China is far ahead in the number of patents in a number of key technology areas, while the United States remains ahead in other areas, while Europe is far behind China and the United States in all areas.
In terms of space navigation and satellite technology, the number of Chinese and U.S. patents is almost equal.This data highlights the importance of the two countries in the field of commercial space and the investment in the aircraft.
In fact, just by analyzing the patent distribution field, we can clearly see the different strategic priorities and development paths of China and the United States.
China’s leading areas include controlled nuclear fusion, artificial intelligence and big data, as well as numerical control machinery tools and smart factories.
Controllable nuclear fusion can meet the enormous electricity consumption needed for a fully modernized life of 1.4 billion people.
Artificial intelligence, big data, numerical control machine tools and smart factories are mainly for manufacturing and modern social governance services, with broad application prospects.
The United States has taken the lead in gene editing, biotechnology and other fields. Digital medical technology, cloud technology, and quantum computing are also the advantageous areas of the United States.
These areas are characterized by high risks and exploration, and require large-scale investment of manpower and material resources to seek breakthroughs.
In addition, patent leadership is not completely equivalent to industry leadership, which is obvious in many fields.
In the field of electric vehicles, the gap in the number of Chinese and American patents is not large, but the scale of the industry and the competition trend are significant.The United States has only a few competitive electric car brands such as Tesla, while China's electric car brands and production are far more than the United States.
The same is true in the field of solid-state batteries. China's patents are only a little ahead of those of the United States, but its industrial scale has a crushing advantage.
Similarly, science and technology are not fully transformed into productivity in the U.S. leading fields. In the field of biotechnology, for example, the U.S. has several times more patents than China, but such patents do not lead to a true leader in agriculture, medicine or environmental protection.
In addition to the strong contrast between China and the United States, this Europe is completely behind in the technological competition, becoming another important finding in the German institutional analysis.
And in whatever field, Europe is left far behind by China and the United States, only slightly ahead of China in terms of biotechnology.
There are many reasons for this situation. Before and after World War II, a large number of European scientists left Europe for the United States, taking away the brightest minds and best scientific research traditions in Europe.
After the end of the Second World War, European countries tried several times to jointly engage in "big science" projects, but the cooperation was limited due to culture, language, policy, interests and other reasons.
Modern "big science" research requires strong financial input and government support, which small and medium-sized countries can't afford. Under the pattern of small countries and small governments in Europe, the brightest talents are constantly flowing to China and the United States, which leads to the increasing marginalization of Europe in the frontier scientific field.
In contrast, through the "15th Five-Year Plan", China is accelerating high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, leading the development of new productive forces.
Even Europe can only watch as its brightest talents flow to China and the United States, while its own motherland does nothing in cutting-edge science.
It is clear that the global economic and technological landscape is being reshaped. Data shows that China has replaced the United States as Germany's largest trading partner. In the field of scientific research, if current trends continue, by around 2027, China will be on par with the United States in scientific research leadership.
How to look at it, this global technological competition is not a zero-sum game, and China's achievements today are an example.
References:
US NIST releases "China National Manufacturing Innovation Center" comparative analysis report - Chinese Academy of Sciences
China overtakes U.S. as Germany's top trading partner amid tariff strains