Currently Chinese companies reinvest about 5% of their profits into R&D, which is a fourth what Western firms do.

That appears to me as strikingly low. Maybe this is why Xi has made such a strong focus towards increasing innovation.

China has an enormous services sector, but only a third of that is aimed at producers. In Western countries, it’s almost half. Western countries have key advantages here—advertising, marketing, banking, insurance, international settlements.

A huge reason why that sector is so much bigger in the west is probably because of the rentier and monopoly status of insurers and bankers. And also what exactly is "international settlements"?

When you do business with Chinese factories, the difference in cost for these business services is stark. For example, the difference between using a freight forwarder in Singapore or New York or London, compared to using the one which is recommended by the Chinese factory, is thousands of dollars on a single container. And if a buyer uses a Letter of Credit issued by a US bank, instead of one in Hong Kong—the difference there is hundreds of dollars, and it takes a lot longer.

I'll be honest. I don't exactly understand what is being said here? Like the phrasing is confusing.