Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed keeping the lifeline of science and technology firmly in China’s own hands and making the country’s development more independent, self-reliant and secure.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during his inspection in Wuhan, the capital city of central China’s Hubei Province, on Tuesday.
Promoting high-tech industry
The optoelectronic information industry is a strategic high-tech industry with a wide application, and it is also a high-tech industry with the conditions to take the lead in achieving a breakthrough in China, Xi said while viewing a display of innovation achievements of a company in the chip industry.
He said effort is needed to master more core technologies with independent intellectual property rights and constantly improve and extend the industrial chain, urging scientific research personnel to make greater contributions to the country’s optoelectronic information sector.
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects a high-tech company in Wuhan, the capital city of central China’s Hubei Province, June 28, 2022. /Xinhua
Noting that high-end manufacturing is an important support for high-quality economic development, Xi underlined that technological research and development must be strengthened to transform and upgrade China’s manufacturing industry.
China is the world’s second-largest economy, but there are still many weak spots, and some industries are not yet on a solid foundation, he said, stressing that scientific and technological innovation depends on input and talent.
Balancing COVID-19 control and economic growth
During the inspection, Xi also learned about the regular COVID-19 prevention and control work and post-epidemic community governance in Hubei Province.
Wuhan has done a good job in the prevention and control of the virus on a regular basis, and its experience is worth summarizing, he said.
Saying that the community is the basic unit of an urban governance system, he called on community workers to improve their emergency response and management capacity.
The Chinese government has been committed to a people-first and life-first philosophy, adhering to the policy of “defending externally against importation, defending internally against rebound “and upholding a dynamic zero-COVID policy, he said.
“Even if there are some temporary impacts on the economy, we will not put people’s lives and health in harm’s way, and we must protect the elderly and the children in particular,” Xi said.
“If we make an overall evaluation, our COVID-19 response measures are the most economical and effective,” he said.
The people’s lives and health have been protected to the greatest extent, Xi said. “We are confident that we will coordinate epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development to achieve a good level of economic development this year.”
