阅读理解
While America's leaders worry about how to curb China's increasing influence in currency, inflation, and trade issues, they are in danger of overlooking an even larger threat—one that could make those debates pointless: China is expected to surpass the U.S. in patent filings this year. China's National Patent Development Strategy lays out aggressive targets—a doubling of the number of patent examiners to 9,000 and 2 million patents by 2015. This includes both invention patents and utility patents, which cover engineering features. An increase in these utility patents may be even more worrisome. China is focusing its intellectual attention in the right places, industries like sustainable power and new automobile technologies. It already operates the world's fastest supercomputer and it leagues ahead of the U.S. in high-speed rail development and many forms of alternative energy. China has made a commitment not only to new ideas, but fast-tracking their ownership. With the country mandating that products not only be sold in China but formed and engineered there, winning the trade war will be difficult. New ideas are essential because 21st century trade will not be defined by who makes what, but who makes things better. And while the U.S. stalls, China moves ahead. Take American jet maker Boeing(BA), for example. Boeing has again announced a delay of its 787 Dreamliner. At the same time, China announced a joint-venture agreement with General Electric(GE)giving it access to sophisticated airplane technology, including some of the same components used in Boeing's Dreamliner. The U.S. must be smarter and tougher to succeed. New inventions and innovations will count for nothing if the intellectual property behind these ideas can be copied and mass-produced. China aims to invest in the development of new technology while turning a blind eye to intellectual-property theft. The U.S., which spends over twice as much on litigation as it does on research, needs to do more to get tough on these copycats. As the No. 1 economy, the U.S. must pressure China to rein in patent abuses and expand trade. China is listening. Recognizing it has a place as a global superpower, it's vowed not to use pirated software in any government offices. Acknowledging the problem is a start, but by no means the end. Ultimately, it may be in China's interest to relax trade restrictions and open up the market to American imports. The U.S. has signaled that a more conciliatory trade policy is a possibility, but only if China opens up its own market to American products. A little competition will go a long way toward driving new ideas for both countries. The U.S. has shown itself to be an invention hub: entrepreneurial, risk-taking, and hands-on. If the U.S. cannot remain intellectually competitive, a few inflationary percentage points will be the least of the country's problems.
单选题16.According to the text, we can learn that Chinese patent filings______.