Xi urges Jiangsu to take lead in advancing Chinese modernization

NANJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed, while on a fact-finding mission to Jiangsu Province, that as a province having the strengths of solid industrial foundation, rich scientific and educational resources, sound business environment and huge market size, Jiangsu has both the capability and the responsibility to take the lead and serve as an example in advancing Chinese modernization.

It is imperative for the province to fully and accurately implement the new development philosophy on all fronts, continue to be a paradigm in reform and innovation and the advancement of high-quality development, play an exemplary role in serving the country to forge a new development pattern, and take the lead in achieving socialist modernization, and vigorously advance the new practice of Chinese modernization in the province, so as to write a new chapter of a modernized Jiangsu characterized by robust economy, affluent population, pristine environment and a high level of social civility.

From July 5 to 7, Xi visited the cities of Suzhou and Nanjing, accompanied by Xin Changxing, secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and Xu Kunlin, governor of the province, inspecting places including an industrial park, enterprises, a block of historical and cultural interest, and a science lab.

On the afternoon of July 5, after arriving in Suzhou, Xi first took a car to inspect Suzhou Industrial Park. At the park's exhibition center, he listened to a briefing on the industrial development in Suzhou and the overall situation of the park, and examined the innovative development achievements on display. Xi stressed that hi-tech industrial parks bear a significant and glorious historical mission in the pursuit of technological self-reliance and strength. It is imperative to strengthen dovetailing between technological innovation and industrial innovation, boost deep integration of industries, universities, and research institutes with enterprises as mainstay, promote the industrial application of scientific and technological achievements, and continuously nurture new industries and lead in industrial upgrading with new technologies. It is important to continually expand international collaboration, working hard to develop open and innovative world-class hi-tech industrial parks.

Xi then visited Suzhou HYC Technology Co., Ltd. He walked into the exhibition hall, the research and development workshop and the laboratory for optoelectronics, checking procedures of research, development, production and tests of products and asking about performances, functions, and market of equipment produced by the company. Xi expressed his gratification when seeing that its research workers and technicians are all young people. Xi noted that China's modernization drive has provided a large stage for young people, who are in their element. He urged them to seize opportunities of the times and give full play to their abilities in scaling a new height in the field of science and technology. They will surely feel proud for their contributions to China's national rejuvenation, Xi said.

Pingjiang Road, a block of historical and cultural interest, located in the northeastern corner of the ancient city of Suzhou, has a history of more than 2,500 years. On the morning of July 6, Xi visited the block and was briefed about protection, maintenance and utilization of the ancient city and the block. He walked along the ancient street to view the look of the city, watched the making of Suzhou embroidery, and experienced the printing of New Year pictures through woodblocks. According to Xi, the fine traditional Chinese culture that has been passed on from generation to generation epitomizes resilience, patience and perseverance of the Chinese people, which is part of the Chinese national spirit.

Local residents and tourists, who were appreciating the pleasing music of Suzhou Pingtan performance at a square along the street, greeted Xi when he arrived there. Xi watched the performance with them. He told them, "I went to the local industrial park the previous day and am visiting the traditional cultural block now. You people must have enjoyed living in such a place with sites of historical and cultural interest everywhere." Suzhou has done a very good job in integrating tradition and modernity as the city has been not only carrying forward historical and cultural heritages, but also advancing hi-tech innovation and high-quality development, which represents future development. He told local officials that the Pingjiang Historic and Cultural Block is a great treasure for preserving and carrying forward fine traditional Chinese culture and promoting socialist cultural-ethical progress. He urged local officials to do a good job in protecting, exploring and utilizing it, and not only preserve the street itself, but also attach importance to it from the bottom of their hearts.

In the afternoon, Xi visited Nanjing City on his fact-finding mission. After arriving at the Purple Mountain Laboratories, he walked into the exhibition hall and the 6G comprehensive lab, where he learned about the progress of key scientific and technological programs. Xi stressed that given the rapid development of information technology nowadays, disruptive technologies may appear at any time. He urged scientists there to conduct innovation in a down-to-earth manner, so as to score achievements in promoting higher-level scientific and technological self-reliance and strength.

NARI Group Corporation is a hi-tech enterprise in the energy interconnection field affiliated to State Grid Corporation of China. Xi paid an inspection visit to the company, where he was briefed about the efforts made by Nanjing to build a national-level advanced manufacturing cluster of intelligent power grids, and watched an exhibition of products of controllable technology developed by NARI Group Corporation. At the intelligent manufacturing production zone, he learned about how the company has been making breakthroughs in the development of core technologies, and the efforts it has made to ensure power grid safety, power supply and energy transformation. He noted that energy supply and safety directly concern our country's development and the people's wellbeing, which is one of the country's most fundamental interests that allows no negligence. He called for efforts to promote the upgrading of key technologies and core products, and the development of new and smart technologies, so as to strengthen the capacity for ensuring national energy safety and supply.

When leaving the company, Xi encouraged the young researchers to aim high but stay grounded, advance step by step with confidence, vigor and the spirit of "devoting their whole life to accomplishing a single cause" to make breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies, thus leading a rewarding life, just as a blacksmith in the past would spend years forging a perfect sword.

On the morning of July 7, Xi was briefed by the Jiangsu provincial Party committee and government on their work, and recognized their efforts in various respects. He expressed the expectation that Jiangsu Province should break new grounds in science and technology innovation, and make new progress in strengthening, consolidating, and extending industrial chains. He expressed the hope that the province will gain new experience for building modern civilization of the Chinese nation, and scale new heights in modernizing its governance.

Xi pointed out that the key to Chinese modernization lies in the modernization of science and technology. He urged Jiangsu to be a leader in making new breakthroughs in this regard, and build a national industrial hub for science and technology innovation, so that the high-quality development of the province is largely powered by innovation-driven growth. He called for efforts to reinforce the principal role of enterprises in innovation, encourage the flow of innovation resources to enterprises, and constantly promote the industrial application of scientific and technological achievements. It is important to further reform management system for science and technology, and the systems and mechanisms for talent development, in order to establish a foundational system for all-around innovation. Xi also stressed the need to increase investment in science and technology through diverse channels, strengthen legal protection of intellectual property rights, and unlock the creativity of talent in different fields.

Xi stressed the need to adhere to the real economy and build a modern industrial system in order to pursue development in the province. This involves consolidating the leading position of traditional industries, accelerating the development of strategic emerging industry clusters with international competitiveness, promoting the deep integration of digital economy with advanced manufacturing and modern services, and comprehensively upgrading the industrial foundation and industrial chain modernization. He called for efforts to accelerate the development of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone. To smooth positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows, it is important to actively address bottlenecks and connectivity issues, and continuously innovate new ways and measures to attract foreign investment and open up wider. It is also essential to build a globally attractive and two-way open hub to spur innovation and development in foreign trade, as well as expand international markets.

Xi pointed out that building a modern civilization of the Chinese nation is an essential requirement for advancing Chinese modernization and a significant aspect of promoting the socialist cultural-ethical progress. Jiangsu must strengthen the protection, inheritance, and innovative development of fine traditional culture, and actively participate in the construction of the Yangtze River National Cultural Park and the Grand Canal National Cultural Park. He called for great endeavors in the development of modern scientific, technological and educational undertakings to comprehensively improve the scientific and cultural literacy of the people. He also called for work to develop the cultural industry and undertakings, make public cultural services in urban and rural areas more standardized and equitable. Solid efforts should be made to raise cultural-ethical standards in both urban and rural areas. Moral education for citizens should be strengthened, making for a society that values reading, and advancing civility.

Xi stressed that Jiangsu must take the lead in ensuring and improving the people's wellbeing and modernizing its governance. The province is urged to optimize its social security, its mechanism for boosting employment and its public service system for employment, and do a good job in providing key groups with employment opportunities. Jiangsu is required to carry on and develop "Fengqiao Experience" and "Pujiang Experience" in the new era, improve its governance system, refine the urban and rural primary-level governance system and the mechanism for advancing village-level governance, and digitalize governance. It is imperative to modernize emergency management system and capacity, further efforts to secure workplace safety, so as to prevent the occurrence of severe and major accidents.

Xi noted that as the country is entering a pivotal period for flood control from mid-July to mid-August, rivers, lakes and reservoirs will be under threat of flood disasters, while at the same time, some parts are suffering from severe drought, which greatly increased the risk of forest fires. All localities and relevant departments should prepare for major floods, drought and other natural disasters, put the people and their lives first, fulfill their responsibilities and do their work well, and give top priority to safeguarding people's lives and property. It is also imperative to detect hidden dangers of natural disasters through careful patrol and inspection, get well prepared for disaster relief and work hard to minimize losses. Transportation departments should safeguard important infrastructure works, and energy and electricity departments, especially state-owned enterprises directly under the central government, should make every effort to ensure the supply of energy resources and power, so as to keep society and the economy running normally against natural disasters.

Xi stressed that since the launch of the theoretical study program, various regions, departments and units have comprehensively implemented key measures in a down-to-earth and practical manner, and achieved good results. Party organizations at all levels should educate and guide Party members and leading officials to implement the requirement of "putting practice first." They should align their study with thinking and practice, and turn what they have learned into conviction and action in a bid to have right direction, and develop motivational power and synergy for their work. Their study should motivate them to make tangible achievements. Firstly, all Party members and officials must establish a view of performance that benefits the people, uphold people-centered philosophy of development, and pursue high-quality development. Xi urged them to refrain from pursuing excessive scale, blindly following foreign examples, taking reckless actions, or playing to the gallery. They should take effective measures for tangible results, and never engage in going for ostentation, playing tricks for personal gains, and data falsification. They should lay a solid foundation for long-term development instead of pursuing short-term gains, and never exhaust resources for immediate interest, only to waste money and manpower. Second, they should have an enterprising spirit to fully perform their duties, boldly take on responsibilities, meet challenges head-on, and have the courage to fight. Work needs to be done to fight against unhealthy tendencies such as being choosy about jobs, lying flat and passing the buck, going through the motions and doing work half-heartedly. Instead, mechanisms should be improved to motivate and protect those who take responsibility and act. Third, it is imperative to create an atmosphere for implementing the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee to the letter, and take a proactive approach and pool collective strength to put them into practice. Xi stressed the perseverance to hammer away until a task is done, focus on practical issues for implementation and achieve substantial results in this regard.

Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee accompanied Xi on the inspection tour.

Li Ganjie, He Lifeng and leading officials of the relevant central Party and state organs were on the inspection tour, and leading officials of the Sixth Central Steering Group for theoretical study program attended the meeting.