Chinese President Xi Jinping urged greater efforts to strengthen basic research at a Shanghai symposium on April 30, aiming to boost original innovation and solidify China's science and technology foundation. He noted that global tech rivalries are shifting to basic and frontier fields, making original and disruptive innovation crucial.
Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a symposium on strengthening basic research in Shanghai on Thursday. “Basic research is the source of the entire scientific system and the main switch for all technical challenges,” Xi said, according to the South China Morning Post.
He highlighted that global tech rivalries were increasingly pivoting towards basic and frontier fields, making “original and disruptive innovation” even more important amid high-stakes competition with the US. Xi called for an integrated strategy to cultivate and mobilise talent, with emphasis on front-line researchers.
The Chinese leader urged gradually increasing the proportion of funding for basic research to create a diversified investment landscape. In 2025, Beijing invested nearly 280 billion yuan (US$41 billion) in research and development, accounting for 7.08 per cent of the country’s total R&D expenditure.
