Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called for efforts to accelerate the building of a modern industrial system underpinned by the real economy and advance 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.

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 building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects, Xi said.

He added, 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.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is deputy director of the CCFEA, also attended the meeting, at which a work regulation for the commission for financial and economic affairs and detailed regulations for the office of the commission were approved.

Friday's meeting came one week after a key meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that analyzed the current economic situation and economic work.

Push for industrial upgrading

According to the CCFEA 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's participants urged efforts 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, they noted, 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's participants.

They urged efforts 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.

The meeting's participants also stressed the importance of fostering world-class enterprises in China and valuing outstanding entrepreneurs.

Support for high-quality population development

At Friday's meeting, it was also 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, said the meeting's participants.

They also stressed, 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.

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.

The participants emphasized the need to better coordinate the relationship between population, economy, society, resources, and the environment, optimize the population structure, and promote high-quality population development.

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(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Robotic arms assemble engines at a workshop of the Weichai Power Co., Ltd. in Weifang City, east China's Shandong Province, April 22, 2021. /Xinhua)