BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for stepped-up efforts to leverage China’s comparative advantages and achieve sustained breakthroughs in the development of “industries of the future,” stressing their importance for long-term competitiveness in science, technology, and industry.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks on January 30 while presiding over a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
He said cultivating future-oriented industries was vital for gaining the initiative in development, fostering new-quality productive forces and building a modern industrial system. Such efforts, he added, would also help improve people’s quality of life and promote overall social progress.
Describing future industries as forward-looking, strategically significant and potentially disruptive, Xi underlined the need for scientific planning and holistic coordination. He called for stronger industrial synergy so that future, emerging and traditional industries could complement and reinforce each other.
Xi noted that scientific and technological breakthroughs would largely determine the pace, scale and depth of progress in future industries. He urged fuller use of China’s system for nationwide resource mobilization, intensified efforts to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies, and a stronger, more forward-looking layout of basic research. Accelerating the application and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements was also highlighted.
Emphasising the role of enterprises, Xi called for innovation resources to be concentrated in businesses and for the cultivation of leading technology firms and high-tech companies with strong core technologies and innovation capacity.
He also stressed improving fiscal and tax policies, expanding science and technology finance, and comprehensively attracting and nurturing talent to create a society-wide environment conducive to innovation.
At the same time, Xi said it was essential to balance development with security by adopting scientific and effective regulatory approaches to prevent risks. He called for deeper international cooperation, including joint development of standards, collaborative rule-making and coordinated industrial advancement.
