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US-China tech war
ChinaPolitics

China’s Xi Jinping sharpens focus on food and mineral supply chains

  • On trip to resource-rich Sichuan province, Xi urges cadres to strengthen crop and tech security
  • Call comes in the countdown to export restrictions on elements critical to semiconductor manufacturing

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Extreme weather and soaring fertiliser prices have added to concerns about food security. Photo: EPA-EFE
Laura Zhou
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called stronger supply chains for food and critical minerals, as the world’s second-biggest economy grapples with an intensifying economic and hi-tech rivalry with the United States.
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Xi issued the call during a trip last week to the resource-rich southwestern province of Sichuan, telling cadres that the area had “unique advantages” in China’s overall development strategy.

“Scientific planning is needed to construct a new energy system to promote the complementary development of hydropower, wind, hydrogen, natural gas and other energy sources,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

“We should strengthen the production and supply of food and strategic mineral resources, and build a strategic base to guarantee the supply of important primary products for the country.”

He also urged academic institutions to harness technology and innovation to “conquer a number of key core technologies and focus efforts on building ‘innovation high ground’ in the country’s western region”.

02:22

Farmers in China rush to harvest wheat after heavy rains damage crops

Farmers in China rush to harvest wheat after heavy rains damage crops
The call comes just days before Beijing’s export restrictions on two minerals – gallium and germanium – as well as on more than three dozen related metals and other materials come into effect on Tuesday (August 1).
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