China is making some large investments in stem-cell research and medicine.
Without the shackles of ethical qualms or government regulations, leaders see stem-cell research as an area in which the country's biotechnology industry might outpace the West.
Beijing announced early this month that the 973 State Development Programme for Key Basic Research would invest 1.6 billion yuan (HK$1.9 billion) in stem-cell research and five other fields this year.
Also, the 863 State Hi-Tech Development Plan will allocate 130 million yuan for developing potential treatments for heart disease, liver failure, Parkinson's disease and repair of neural conditions.
By contrast, the US National Institute of Health will spend US$125 million on human embryonic cell research.
It will, however, spend another US$1.7 billion to understand the basic mechanism of stem cells and to do non-human and non-embryonic stem cell research - matters of less interest to Beijing.