Premier Li Keqiang highlighted the need to shore up research in basic science and support researchers in amplifying their imagination and creativity to make new breakthroughs while meeting with Chinese-American mathematician Shing-Tung Yau in Beijing on Friday.

Li noted mathematics is the pillar for fundamental science, urged respect for the laws of science and encouraged building up the foundation for scientific and technological innovation and growth.

It is important to respect talent, create an environment that enables them to employ their expertise and strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, he said.

Yau, the first ethnic Chinese to win the Fields Medal, often referred to as the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize, has been committed to the development of basic disciplines and the training of outstanding mathematical talent in China