Xi stresses building of modern industrial system and high-quality population development

President Xi Jinping, 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), presided over the first meeting of the commission under the 20th CPC Central Committee on Friday afternoon. He stressed that the work of the commission should be well carried out and underlined research and efforts on speeding up the building of the country's modern industrial system and advancing Chinese modernization with support from the high-quality development of the population. In his important speech at the meeting, Xi stressed that the newly grouped CCFEA should continue to play its role in formulating major guidelines for financial and economic affairs and further strengthening and improving the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee over economic work. A modern industrial system is the material and technological foundation of a modern country, and the focus of the economic development should be placed on the real economy to provide solid material support for China to realize its Second Centenary Goal, Xi said. Population development is of vital importance to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and efforts must be made to improve the overall population quality so as to support Chinese modernization.

Li Qiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese premier and deputy director of the CCFEA, Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat and a member of the CCFEA, and Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese vice premier and a member of the CCFEA, attended the meeting.

At the meeting, reports on accelerating the building of a modern industrial system were heard from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and so were reports on supporting Chinese modernization with high-quality population development from the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Education.

It was noted at the meeting that economic development is the Party's central work. To strengthen the Party's leadership over economic work is an integrate part of strengthening the overall leadership of the Party. The CCFEA bears heavy responsibilities and plays an important role as an important institutional arrangement of the CPC Central Committee to lead economic work. To do a good job, the CCFEA under the 20th CPC Central Committee must fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, accelerate the creation of a new development pattern and pursue high-quality development. It is imperative to strengthen strategic planning, bolster systems thinking, promote coordinated implementation, and intensify investigations and research to put into good practice the national development strategy in a consistent manner. The meeting examined and approved Work Regulations for the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs and Detailed Regulations for the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs.

It was stressed at the meeting that to accelerate modernizing the industrial system with the real economy as the pillar concerns whether China can take the strategic initiative when it comes to its future development and global competition. We must grasp the opportunity of the new scientific and technological revolution which involves artificial intelligence among others, adapt to the requirement for harmony between humanity and nature, maintain and strengthen the advantages of a complete industrial system with strong capabilities of coordination, and effectively accumulate innovation factors worldwide, so as to ensure that the industries are smarter, greener and more integrated, and build a more complete, advanced, safe and modernized industrial system. We must maintain the real economy as the mainstay and prevent it from being sidelined, take steady and incremental steps instead of going after what is big and foreign and maintain an integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries and prevent them from being isolated and opposite to each other. We must also keep promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries rather than eliminating them as "low-end industries", and adhere to openness and cooperation instead of divorcing ourselves from reality.

It was noted at the meeting that industrial policies under the new development stage must be improved. Top priority must be given to safeguarding industrial security, enhance top-level design for strategic fields and make industrial policies more coordinated. Greater efforts should be made to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key areas and strengthen support for strategic resources, and the principal position of enterprises in sci-tech innovation should be ensured with institutional arrangements. Greater attention should be given to enhancing the application of technologies in grain production and breaking through the restrictions of natural conditions such as cultivated land on agricultural production. It is important to make 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. Vigorous efforts should be made to build world-class enterprises, cherish and care for outstanding entrepreneurs, and train master craftsmen and highly skilled workers.

It was pointed out at the meeting that the current population development in China is characterized by the trend of birthrate decline, population aging, and differentiation in regional population growth, so the new situation of population development in China must be fully understood and correctly viewed. We should focus on the strategic arrangement of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation, perfect the strategy for population development in the new era, and understand, adapt to and guide the new normal of population development. Efforts should be made to improve the overall quality of the population, maintain an appropriate birthrate and population size, and 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. It is necessary to apply systems thinking in planning the population development, promote high-quality population development through reform and innovation, closely integrate high-quality population development with high quality of life for the people, and promote well-rounded development of individuals and common prosperity for everyone.

The meeting stressed the need to deepen the reform and innovation of education and health services, regard the construction of an education power as a strategic project for high-quality population development, and comprehensively improve the scientific and cultural literacy, health, and intellectual and moral level of the population. It is imperative to introduce and improve policies to support childbirth, develop a childcare service system that can benefit all so as to alleviate the burden of raising a child on households, and build a society friendly to childbirth and child care to promote steady population growth in the long run. Efforts should be made to develop and make good use of human resources, stabilize labor participation rate, and bolster the efficient use of human resources. It is important to implement proactive national strategies in response to the population aging, promote the building of a basic system for elderly care services, develop silver economy, and accelerate the building of a multi-layered, multi-pillared elderly care insurance system to make sure that the seniors have a sense of security, worthiness and happiness. The relationship between population and economy and society must be well coordinated, and so must be that between population and resources and environment. Work should be done to improve regional economic layout and territorial spatial system, optimize the population structure, and safeguard the population security to promote the high-quality development of the population.

Members of the CCFEA were present. Leading officials of relevant central Party and government departments attended the meeting.