Xi urges Guizhou to embrace innovation

President concludes inspection tour of province with call for high-quality growth

President Xi Jinping has underlined the importance of innovative and green development in Guizhou province, and urged local officials to step up efforts to implement the new development philosophy and build the new development paradigm of "dual circulation" based on the requirements of the new development stage.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a meeting in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, on Friday before concluding his three-day inspection tour of the province. The meeting was attended by officials from the provincial Party committee and government.

He called on the province to give equal importance to development and environmental protection, and coordinate efforts in both development and security to seek high-quality growth.

Xi expressed hope that Guizhou will blaze a new path for the country's western development campaign in the new era, make a good start in rural vitalization, take advantage of the opportunity of implementing the digital economy strategy and make greater achievements in environmental conservation.

Noting that building the new development paradigm requires innovative development, Xi urged the province to advance the deep integration of big data with the real economy, foster and expand strategic and emerging industries, and accelerate the development of modern industries.

He underlined the need to create new modes of consumption to fully unleash the potential of consumption demand, and turn to reforms to solve deep-rooted institutional problems.

Xi asked Guizhou to actively participate in the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, which aims to connect China's inland western region with major ports in southern China, and promote reforms and development through openness.

He also stressed the need to align the achievements of poverty alleviation with rural vitalization and strengthen measures to prevent rural people from falling back into poverty.

Xi's inspection tour came ahead of Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 12 this year.

Since he became general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 2012, Xi has gone on an inspection tour in the country before the traditional festival every year. He has used the trips to visit people and officials at the grassroots level, learn about people's livelihoods, and extend New Year's greetings to people around the country.

During his inspection tour in Guizhou, he traveled to the cities of Bijie and Guiyang, where he visited a village, an urban residential community and a supermarket, and learned about the supply of goods for the upcoming Spring Festival holiday and their prices.

He urged officials to seriously fulfill their responsibilities in relation to work that matters to people's immediate interests, effectively carry out epidemic prevention and control measures, and strengthen supervision over food safety to ensure the people enjoy a happy and safe festival.

Also on Friday, Xi met representatives of scientists who work for China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, in Guiyang.

He learned about the construction of the telescope, which is located in Guizhou, as well as the technological innovations and international cooperation related to the project.

Saying that this major scientific and technological infrastructure facility is an example of the progress in innovation the country has made in cutting-edge technologies, Xi praised those who had made contributions to this achievement.

He stressed that as China is comprehensively building itself into a modern socialist country, it must attach great importance to science and technology and allow technological innovation to play a key and crucial role in the process.

Xi encouraged the scientific workers to make efforts to secure new achievements in key fields and make greater contributions to building the country into a leading power in science and technology.