China to keep 75% tax cut on enterprises' R&D costs: Premier Li

Panoramic photo taken on Jan. 8, 2020 shows China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) under maintenance in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

Innovation will continue to be a key priority for China, with further efforts to boost the role of enterprises through tax deductions and bringing them together with research institutes, universities and end-users, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

China will continue to grant an extra tax deduction of 75 percent on enterprises' research and development costs "and we will raise this to 100 percent for manufacturing enterprises," Li said, while delivering a government work report at the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress' (NPC) in Beijing.

He said such tax treatment enables enterprises to increase research and development spending and pursue innovation-driven development.

He also said the central government plans to increase spending on basic research by 10.6 percent to enable researchers to make "scientific explorations and major breakthroughs in key technologies."

According to Li, China will continue to build national laboratories and improve science and technology programs as well as innovation centers. China will continue to implement and further improve the Sci-Tech Innovation 2030 Agenda, including recruiting talents for key research projects through open competition.

The country will also encourage opening up and international cooperation in the science and technology sector.

The development of 5G networks and 1000M fiber optic networks will be stepped up and their application will be applied in more scenarios, Li added.