China will strengthen basic research to meet major strategic demands and help achieve national goals in upcoming 15 years, according to a newly-released national guideline on science and technology.

Basic research has become part of the international competition of overall national strength. As a rapidly developing country, China must put the emphasis on basic research in order to achieve national goals and solve key problems which would appear in the future, says the National Guideline on Medium- and Long- Term Plan for Science and Technology Development (2006-2020) issued by the State Council on Thursday.

Under the principle of selecting state-listed basic researches set by the guideline, the state will pick up research programs which are influential to the economic and social development and national security, temporally weak but key to development, or capable of leading future high-tech development.

The guideline lists 10 basic researches in line with the requirement, such as basic biological researches comprising life science and diseases, research on the impact of human activities on global system, global change and regional response, and research on formation, forecast and control of disasters.

The guideline also sets forth frontier issues in basic research and a plan of four major scientific researches for the next 15 years.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2006)