Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed coordinating efforts for coronavirus control, as well as economic and social development, to strive towards achieving this year's economic and social development goals. 

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection tour in east China's Zhejiang Province from Sunday to Wednesday. 

Xi pointed out that China's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with their smartness and vitality, will surely pull through the hard times and embrace better development. 

Calling for efforts to smooth global supply chain to ensure normal economic and trade activities, he urged to promote smooth flow of products out of and into the country at the same time.

Preventing imported cases the top priority 

After listening to the work report presented by local government on Wednesday, Xi said that China will make preventing imported cases the top priority in the country's COVID-19 response at present and even for a "prolonged" period of time. 

"The epidemic situation in China is moving steadily in a positive direction, and the peak of the current COVID-19 outbreak is over in the country."

However, the risk posed by imported cases has sharply risen as the epidemic is accelerating its spread across the world, he continued, calling for strengthening the work on asymptomatic coronavirus cases in China.

Take crisis as an opportunity 

Though the increasingly fast spread of COVID-19 abroad has disrupted international economic and trade activities and brought new challenges to China's economic development, it has also provided fresh opportunities for expediting the country's development in science and technology and advancing industrial upgrading, Xi noted. 

More efforts should be made to accelerate and further expand work and production resumption in an orderly manner on the premise of strictly implementing pandemic prevention and control measures, Xi continued. 

While seizing the opportunities of industrial digitization and digital industrialization, China also needs to expedite the construction of "new infrastructure" projects such as 5G networks and data centers, and deploy strategic emerging sectors and industries of the future including digital economy, life health services and new materials, he said.

Smooth flow of products 

Xi started his inspection tour in Zhejiang on Sunday, where he visited Ningbo-Zhoushan Port and an industrial park for auto parts and molds in Ningbo.   

The Ningbo Zhoushan Port took the lead in resuming production, which was of great significance to promoting Chinese enterprises to resume work and production as well as restoring the logistics system and the global industrial chains, Xi said. 

He called for efforts to cope with and blunt the adverse impacts of the global restrictive measures on cargo shipping and facilitate the smooth flow of the country's exports and imports. 

While regarding the port as a hard-core power, Xi said Zhoushan port plays an important role in national strategies such as the building of the Belt and Road, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the integration of the Yangtze River Delta.  

Green model of growth 

On Monday, Xi visited Anji County in Zhejiang, where he said that China will roll out more targeted measures to help SMEs hit by the COVID-19 pandemic restart production work and develop further.  

During the inspection, he visited Yucun Village in Tianhuangping Township and talked with local residents about what has been achieved in the village in terms of green development.  

"The environment itself means the economy. If you protect the environment, you will receive rewards from the environment," he said. 

On Tuesday, Xi inspected wetland conservation and technology-based urban management in the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang. 

The tour began at a time when the spread of COVID-19 has been basically curbed in China and life and work are back on track. 

(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping learns about the huge changes brought about by advancing green development in Yucun Village of Tianhuangping Township in Anji County, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 30, 2020. /Xinhua)