Does China’s science budget boost confirm it is listening to everything Elon Musk says?

China has just unveiled its draft fiscal budget for 2026 and its blueprint for the next five-year plan. As Beijing reveals a 10 per cent year-on-year budget increase for the sector, it is positioning frontiers such as future energy, brain-computer interfaces and satellite internet as China’s future industries, with the nation doubling down on science and technology spending to support them. This year, China is allocating a total of 426.42 billion yuan (US$61.7 billion) for science – the largest percentage increase among major government spending areas, outpacing defence, diplomacy, public security and education. The numbers were released in the Ministry…