China will stick to innovation and give more support to developing self-reliant technology in the next five years, according to a communique released at the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Thursday.

The country's technology development strategy should be positioned in the world-frontier, highly-needed and human-benefiting areas, it said.

China's Five-Year Plan (FYP) is one of the most important policy blueprints that sets medium-term goals for the country's economic and social development.

The communique came after a senior Party meeting to deliberate on the contents of the country's 14th Five-Year Plan for 2021-2025.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made an important speech at the session.

He highlighted the urgency and importance of accelerating scientific and technological innovation to better promote development. He said the country should be more forward-looking and vigorously develop a new generation of high technology and strive to gain first-mover advantages.

Over the past five years, China has made significant progress in building an innovative country, with its strengths in science and technology steadily improving in terms of major indicators, said Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang.  

China's ranking jumped from 29th in 2015 to 14th in 2020 on the Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The country's total expenditure on research and development reached 2.21 trillion yuan ($329 billion), accounting for 2.23 percent of the country's GDP, up from 1.42 trillion yuan and 2.06 percent in 2015. 

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