Xi Jinping urges China to become more self-reliant during tour of southern manufacturing hub
- Chinese president says manufacturing is key to making country strong
- First public comments on visit to Guangdong stress need to develop its own technology
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that China must become “self-reliant”, state media reported, as he toured the country’s manufacturing hub.
Xi arrived in the southern province of Guangdong on Monday, and visited the precision moulding plant and a key laboratory at Gree Electric Appliances in Zhuhai, one of the country’s biggest manufacturers.
There he said the country must develop its manufacturing industry and technology to become a “strong” country, according to People’s Daily, the official Communist Party mouthpiece.
“To go from a big country to a strong one, we must give paramount importance to the development of the real economy,” Xi said in his first official comments during the visit.
“Manufacturing is a key to the real economy, and the core strength of manufacturing is innovation, or the control of core technologies.
“We must … seek innovation by relying on ourselves, and I hope all enterprises will work in this direction.”
The Guangdong visit comes amid the escalating trade war with the United States and slowing economic growth.