South Korea, which lagged far behind China during the 1960s, made science and technology the very heart of the Korean national construction plan and in just a few short years managed to become world leaders or near world leaders in many areas of manufacturing technology. This made Korea the most successful of all the Four Dragons. The report opens with an extensive and extremely frank discussion of Chinese military, population, food supply, environmental, health and social challenges. International competition in many fields, especially science, technology, and foreign trade is more intense today than ever before. China as a developing country faces many additional problems because of the immaturity of its socialist market economy.
Some people openly oppose scientific thought and turn instead to superstition and religion.
The Gulf War shows clearly that China must completely rethink its military strategy and create a smaller, more professional military with a deep knowledge of science and technology. Advances and technology are making old weapons systems more vulnerable and so less important. Aircraft carriers, for example, are now vulnerable to small, stealthy boats which shadow them. These small boats carry cruise missiles or drone aircraft which can be used to attack an aircraft carrier, noted the report. All advanced countries compete for the services of the limited pool of talent in advanced science and technology.