China's central government budget for basic research is set to see a 16.3-percent increase in 2026 compared with last year, said an official for the country's Ministry of Finance at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
Wang Ye, deputy director of the department of science, education and culture of the Ministry of Finance, made the announcement in response to a media inquiry on China's support policies for basic research.
Wang said the central government budge prioritizes science and technology as a key field for giving support.
"We will continue to scale up input and strengthen efforts to guarantee funding. The central government budget for basic research in 2026 will increase by 16.3 percent compared with last year. Driven by fiscal funds, China's total spending on basic research has risen rapidly, climbing from 55.5 billion yuan (about 8.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013 to 277.8 billion yuan in 2025, ranking the second worldwide. Its proportion in the country's total research and development expenditure has gone up from 4.68 percent in 2013 to 7.08 percent in 2025, hitting an all-time high," Wang said.
She said that the Ministry of Finance has been coordinating resources to fund the construction and operation of major national science and technology infrastructure as well as service platforms for sharing science and technology resource.
Funding will also be provided for selecting and fostering outstanding students in basic disciplines, according to Wang.
The Ministry of Finance will also support comprehensive training and recruitment of talents in the field of basic research and let them unleash their full potential, she said.
The ministry will back implementation of major science and technology programs, and hunt and cultivate talents for research programs.
"Going forward, we will keep pursuing the goal of boosting China's strength in science and technology and steadily increase fiscal investment in basic research. Meanwhile, we will also intensify supervision and administration to ensure that fiscal funds are precisely allocated and efficiently utilized so that the input will see coordinated increase in quantity and improvement of efficiency," Wang said.
China increases central government budget for basic research: official
Zhao Leji, chairman of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks with Tomio Okamura, speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, in Beijing on Thursday.
Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Czech strategic partnership, Zhao, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China stands ready to work with the Czech side to carry forward traditional friendship, enhance mutual understanding and trust, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and promote the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations.
Zhao called on both sides to consolidate the political foundation of their ties, sustain the momentum of improvement in bilateral relations, and resume and step up exchanges and interactions at all levels and across all fields.
Both sides should further tap cooperation potential, give full play to the role of mechanisms such as the economic joint committee between China and Czech and the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo, explore ways to strengthen cooperation in new energy, electric vehicles and other fields, and support enterprises of the two countries in expanding investment cooperation, Zhao added.
The NPC is ready to enhance friendly exchanges with the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, carry out mutual learning and exchanges on legislative supervision, economic development, improvement of people's livelihood, formulate, revise and ratify legal documents conducive to bilateral cooperation, and maintain close communication and collaboration within multilateral mechanisms such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Zhao said.
Zhao also said China is willing to work with all countries, including the Czech Republic, to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and promote the establishment of a fair and equitable global governance system for AI.
Okamura said the Czech Republic adheres to the one-China policy, adding that it hopes to strengthen tourism cooperation with China and welcome more Chinese tourists to visit the Czech Republic, expand cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, cultural relic exhibitions, and direct flights, and enhance people-to-people exchanges.
The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic stands ready to strengthen friendly exchanges with China's NPC and enhance the friendship between the two peoples, Okamura added.
China's top legislator holds talks with speaker of Czech Chamber of Deputies
