Xi, Li see science as key to future

To push for the nation's economic transition and industrial upgrading, Chinese leaders pledged on Monday greater commitment to the research and application of science and technology.

In a show of unprecedented importance, both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang addressed an event combining three top-level science conferences attended by 4,000 scientists and science officials.

Xi said the central government's commitment is aimed at making China a leading power in science and technology by the middle of the century, or around the 100th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.