China needs more ‘skilled talent’, and they deserve better pay, Premier Li Qiang urges
China must adjust to a changing landscape of worker needs amid push for ‘high-level scientific and technological self-reliance’
Premier Li Qiang has called for better vocational education and cultivation of craftsmanship talent, as the world’s second-largest economy is building up a skilled industrial workforce amid an intensifying tech rivalry with the United States.
China needs to cultivate more sophisticated skilled talents to help the nation achieve “high-level scientific and technological self-reliance”, Li said on Sunday during an inspection tour in Shanghai.
The call follows a plan unveiled by the central government last month to enlarge its highly skilled talent pool as China pushes for independent technological innovation while the US continues with efforts to curb the former’s hi-tech access.
Calling it an adjustment to a changing landscape, Li emphasised “the spirit of model workers, labour and craftsmanship” during his visit to a vocational school in the city, state news agency Xinhua reported.
“The demand for skilled talent is an increasingly pressing issue in today’s economic and social development; every industry relies on highly capable professionals,” Li was quoted as saying.
With a goal of strengthening the nation’s technological self-reliance, he underscored the urgency of developing expertise in fields critical to emerging technology and advanced industries amid a global industrial transformation.
