France's Le Figaro: In 2025, the number of papers published by Chinese researchers in the world's top 145 scientific journals exceeded that of their American counterparts for the first time.

The latest issue of Le Figaro published an analytical article stating that Trump's government weakened research funding, which was a big gift to China. Trump's second term had a huge impact on the entire U.S. science system. Soon after he took office, the large-scale reduction plan led and promoted by Musk caused all U.S. research institutions to be affected. Subsequently, almost all research fields, from basic science to biomedical research, were hit.

Le Figaro disclosed detailed data. The 2026 budget proposal released in April showed that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget was cut by $1.8 billion, a 37% decrease compared to last year; NASA's budget was cut by $6 billion, a 24% decrease compared to last year; the Department of Energy's research budget was cut by $4.7 billion, a 31% decrease compared to last year; and the National Science Foundation (NSF), which is responsible for basic sciences, was cut by $4.7 billion, a 52% decrease compared to last year.

In summary, Le Figaro stated that this was exactly what China wanted. Just like during Trump's first term, many members of Congress, including Republicans, had tried to fight for research budgets. However, in the end, thousands of civil servants were laid off, and the distribution of federal research funds and scholarships was frozen for months, causing hundreds of research projects to be suspended. In addition, in some institutions, researchers were restricted by new regulations, such as not being allowed to travel abroad without explicit approval, or even being prohibited from communicating with foreign researchers. A large number of research projects related to cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and other diseases were unable to use laboratory equipment due to frozen funding.

China is rapidly catching up with U.S. scientific research technology. Since China launched its ambitious research plan in 2000, Beijing has basically been replicating the successful strategy that the United States used since World War II. From the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb, the U.S. has invested heavily in scientific research to establish its technological advantage, with the goal of consolidating its global dominance in economic and strategic terms in the second half of the 20th century. This strategy has undeniably been successful, as the U.S. indeed established an unshakable leading position in electronics and information technology.

However, over the past 25 years, through massive investments in all scientific fields, including astronomy and genetics, China has nearly completely closed the gap and is now closely following the U.S. model. In 2025, Chinese researchers surpassed their American counterparts in the number of papers published in the world's top 145 scientific journals for the first time. In certain areas, such as biology and health, the U.S. still maintains a clear advantage. However, given the significant cuts to federal research funding under Trump, how long these advantages can be maintained is clearly a question.

Source: rfi

Original: toutiao.com/article/1852886757613707/

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