China’s plans to use science and technology to energise its economic growth will be underpinned by basic research and development, the two ministers responsible for drafting the policy have confirmed. Wang Zhigang , science and technology minister, and his industry and IT counterpart Jin Zhuanglong, fleshed out the new priorities in an interview after the opening ceremony of the 14th National People’s Congress. In the interview, published by state news agency Xinhua, Wang said basic research was now regarded as the main driver of China’s development. “This is a new understanding of the [Communist] party. We have greater demand for underlying technologies and mind-blowing applications,” he said. The draft policy, which includes a commitment to develop new technologies like 6G, was delivered on Sunday, on the first day of the “two sessions” meetings in Beijing. China is the world’s second-largest spender on scientific research, with R&D funding surpassing 3 trillion yuan (US$434 billion) in 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Industry and IT Minister Jin said China would continue to expand its existing 5G network, currently the world’s largest and most advanced, with more than 2.34 million base stations and 575 million mobile phone users. “We plan to build 600,000 new 5G base stations and continue to promote 5G industrial applications in mining, electricity, ports and aircraft construction,” Jin said. “[The] combination of 5G technology and the industrial internet could bring a big difference [to the economy]. We plan to build 10,000 more 5G factories during the next five years. “At the same time, we are comprehensively developing 6G technology. Research experience of 5G, a super-large-scale market and a complete industrial system will be our great advantages.” A report by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology in January estimated that the 5G industry will directly drive 1.45 trillion yuan (US$210 billion) in economic outputs. On the future of basic research in China, Wang said he attached great importance to methodology. “It is very important for scientists to ask the right question in basic research. The logic of the research, a practical research paradigm, could be more valuable than the final result,” he said. China earmarks 2 per cent budget boost for science and technology Wang said he also focused on the welfare of researchers. “Leading talents in basic research are rare, and they are all oriented towards the most difficult fields such as summarising research protocol and natural laws,” he said. “Basic research is always accompanied by unclear paths, inaccurate methods and a high failure rate. We must tolerate failure in this area.” Wang also highlighted the need for an open academic atmosphere. “Basic research needs more exchanges with international peers and we need to create a required research ecosystem,” he said. Beijing hails China’s ‘leapfrog period’ of rapid scientific achievement The talent evaluation criterion in basic research should also differ from the standards of applied engineering, Wang said. He also highlighted some of China’s achievements in basic research over the past few years, including quantum technology applications in computing, communications and measurement. Wang also cited the chemistry breakthrough by Chinese scientists who synthesised industrial starch with carbon dioxide, and the discovery of more than 700 pulsars by astronomers using the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST).