Xi urges modernization of industrial system, high-quality population development

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed speeding up the construction of the country's modern industrial system backed by the real economy and advancing Chinese modernization with support from the high-quality development of the population.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission, and director of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs (CCFEA), made the remarks while presiding over the first meeting of the CCFEA under the 20th CPC Central Committee.

Xi said a modern industrial system is the material foundation of a modern country, and the focus of economic growth must be on the real economy to provide a solid material foundation for China to realize the Second Centenary Goal.

Population development is a vital issue related to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and efforts must be made to improve the overall population quality to support Chinese modernization, Xi said.

Other Chinese leaders, including Li Qiang, Cai Qi, and Ding Xuexiang, attended the meeting, during which working rules for the commission and the commission's office were approved.

According to the meeting, in order to build a modern industrial system that is holistic, advanced, and secure, China should seize opportunities presented by the new scientific and technological revolution, such as artificial intelligence, adapt to the requirements of harmonious coexistence between human and nature, maintain and strengthen its advantages of a complete industrial system and strong supporting capacity, promote the efficient aggregation of global innovation factors, and boost the intelligent, green, and integrated development of industries.

The meeting urged insisting on the integrated development of the first, second, and tertiary industries, the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and opening up and cooperation.

China should fine-tune its industrial policies for the new development stage and take industrial security as a top priority, noted the meeting, calling for efforts to enhance the top-level design in areas of strategic importance and policy coordination.

The principal position of enterprises in sci-tech innovation should be ensured with institutional arrangements, while greater attention should be given to enhancing the application of technologies in grain production, according to the meeting.

It urged making full use of the advantage of the super-sized market, with efforts to integrate the strategies of domestic demand expansion and innovation-driven development and promote opening up and cooperation of the industrial and supply chains.

The meeting stressed fostering world-class enterprises in China and valuing outstanding entrepreneurs.

The meeting pointed out that China is currently experiencing a trend of birthrate decline, population aging, and differentiation in regional population growth.

Efforts should be made to perfect the strategy for population development in the new era, understand, adapt to, and guide the new normal of population development, improve the overall quality of the population, and maintain an appropriate birthrate and population size, it said.

The country should speed up the development of modern human resources with good quality, sufficient quantity, optimized structure, and reasonable distribution, so that Chinese modernization will be advanced with support from the high-quality development of the population, stressed the meeting.

China will further reform education and health services, establish a sound policy system to support child-bearing, develop inclusive childcare services, reduce the burden on families of child-bearing, child-rearing, and education, promote a child-bearing-friendly society, and safeguard long-term and balanced population development.

The meeting highlighted the work to develop human resources, stabilize the labor force participation rate and improve the efficient use of human resources.

The country will actively respond to the population aging, advance the construction of a basic old-age service system, develop the silver economy, and accelerate the development of a multi-tiered and multi-pillar old-age insurance system.

China will better coordinate the relationship between population, economy, society, resources and the environment, optimize the population structure, and promote high-quality population development, said the meeting.