Xi Jinping: "Socialist Construction Depends on Scientific and Technological Self-Reliance"... Response to US Pressure

"Must Overcome Core Technology Challenges"

As the United States continues its technological containment against China, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the "self-reliance" of core technologies at the annual political event, the Two Sessions (Lianghui - the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference).

The Communist Party's official newspaper, People's Daily, reported that President Xi attended the Jiangsu delegation's legislative review meeting at the NPC on the 5th and stated, "Whether we can fully build a socialist modernized country as planned depends on the self-reliance and self-strengthening of science and technology."

He continued, "We must accelerate the implementation of an innovation-driven development strategy, promote deep cooperation among industry, academia, and research, and focus on strengthening the construction of major scientific and technological innovation platforms."

He added, "Top scientists should take the lead in conducting original and pioneering scientific and technological research, strive to overcome difficulties in key core technologies, and support controlling critical areas and essential stages."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, Li Keqiang, the incumbent second-in-command and Premier of the State Council, also emphasized at the opening work report of the NPC annual meeting on the 5th that "science and technology policies will focus on self-reliance and self-strengthening," and stressed, "We will concentrate high-quality resources to break through the bottlenecks of core technologies."

The United States has imposed direct sanctions on Chinese companies. On the 2nd, the U.S. Department of Commerce added 28 Chinese companies, including BGI Group, China's largest genomics company, to the export control list citing reasons such as supporting the modernization of the Chinese military, violating Iran sanctions, and surveilling U.S. citizens. Recently, the U.S. also secured commitments from Japan and the Netherlands to join its semiconductor equipment export controls.