China eyes leadership role in science, innovation in 30 years through basic research

The Chinese government Wednesday announced a plan to increase support for basic science in the hope that China will lead the world in science and innovation in 30 years.

The government will improve planning for basic research, build more high-quality state laboratories, train young talent, boost international exchanges, and increase funding from more sources, according to a guideline issued by the State Council.

“We should build our country into a major global center of science and an innovation high ground by the middle of this century,” said the guideline. “A number of key groundbreaking scientific achievements will be made and we will have many world-leading scientists.”

Basic science is the branch of fundamental research in science that generates ideas, concepts and theories which form the basis to develop technologies or techniques in many scientific fields.

“The progress in basic science research is crucial to building a scientifically powerful country in the world,” the cabinet guideline said.

In terms of foreign cooperation, the guideline said the government would organize more international collaboration projects in key research, open national research programs to foreign participants, and implement science and innovation plans under the Belt and Road initiative.

China has significantly ramped up spending in scientific research over the past decade. The Natural Science Foundation of China financed 41,184 programs with 22.71 billion yuan ($ 3.3 billion) in 2016.