WASHINGTON -- As one of the world's fastest-growing economies, China is also the world's fastest-growing supporter of scientific research and development (R&D), the Science journal said in an editorial to be published on Saturday.

China's national R&D funding has taken the third place in the world, just behind the United States and Japan, according to the publication obtained by Xinhua.

China sees a rapid increase in R&D investment, with an annual growth rate of 18 percent over the past five years. By contrast, the United States, Japan and the European Union grew at a combined average rate of about 2.9 percent, the editorial said.

"This reflects a clear understanding by China's top political leadership that science and technology (S&T) are critical to their nation's future," said the authors of the editorial, Alan Leshner, who is chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Executive Publisher of Science, and Vaughan Turekian, chief international officer of the science organization.

This is not surprising because so many Chinese leaders are scientists and engineers by training, the editorial noted.

There are also concerns that China's continuing rise may be at the expense of broader global societal issues such as environmental protection, natural resource use and research integrity, the editorial said.

But overall, the rapid rise in Chinese science is good for China and the rest of the world, and the global scientific enterprise should do all it can to help, the editorial added.

It views China's integration into the world scientific community as a key to the country's future success, holding that Chinese science leaders clearly welcome partnerships to ease this integration process.

"This progress is good for China and for the rest of the world," said both authors of the editorial.