Technological self-reliance is at heart of China’s economic plans, says key Xi Jinping aide
- Liu He, the president’s economic adviser, says innovation will play a vital role in the country’s development plans
- Communist leadership recently approved a five-year that placed a greater emphasis on domestic markets as a driver of economic growth
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser Liu He has stressed that the country’s pursuit of self-reliance in key technologies is “imperative” to its new economic strategy, which places an increased emphasis on domestic consumption.
“This is a critical juncture for the development of a big country’s economy,” Liu wrote in an official guide to Beijing’s new development plan, and promised that the capital markets would support the drive for technological innovation.
Liu’s responsibilities as vice-premier include science and technology – an area Beijing’s planners have identified as critical in the contest with the United States.
In a speech in Shanghai earlier this month, Xi told the city’s officials that “science and technology have never had such a deep influence over the country’s future and fate as they do today” and concluded that China “needs to strengthen innovation as its No 1 growth driver more than ever”.
Last month the Communist Party leadership agreed a new five-year plan which put scientific and technological innovation at the heart of China’s modernisation programme, which has the goal of making it one of the world’s most advanced countries by 2035.
The plan also cemented the role of the so-called “dual circulation” strategy, which places greater emphasis on domestic markets as a driver of growth while also seeking to move beyond cheap manufacturing in its international trade relations.
