By Anand Vardhan
HONG KONG: President XI Jingpin has called for “full opening up “of the Chinese economy towards the realisation of his vision of making China strong, including the ambition to take a global lead on technological and industrial change.
Addressing delegates from the southern province of Guangdong in Beijing yesterday, President Xi Jinping said “luring and nurturing talent was critical to his vision of making China strong.”
He said Guangdong province, the country’s economic powerhouse, should push for “full opening up.”
President Xi also asked the Southern province to work with Hong Kong and Macau to develop the “Greater Bay Area” by linking these two cities with nine of the southern mainland cities into a “world class economic and business hub.”
President was sending a message in the year that marks the 40th anniversary of China’s open door policy.
The significance of this lies in the fact that in 2012, soon after Xi took charge of the ruling communist party, he had visited Guangdong in an apparent homage to Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour in 1992 that relaunched China’s opening up and reform programme initiated in the late 1970s.
Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, was Guangdong party boss in the early years of opening up that saw the province take the lead in reforms. Xi last attended a Guangdong delegation meeting at the National People’s congress in 2014.
He warned ‘if we do not take the innovation driven path, we will not be able to transform from the old to new economic drivers and China will not be able to become a truly strong nation’. It takes innovation to be strong and it needs talent to bring innovation, he added.
State-owned TV said Xi told the Guangdong delegates to take the lead in developing new institutional infrastructure for high quality growth, building a modern economy and pursuing a comprehensive system to open up.
Asking the Guangdong province to expedite the development of a new model for its trade sector, he asked them to join the country’s Belt and Road trade and investment strategy in addition to improving its initiative in innovation collaborations.
The state TV also reported for the first time on the remarks by Xi on the controversial changes to the Constitution that include removing the two term limit on his presidency.
Xi said that the party had sought inputs from various sectors and that it “reflected the common will of the party and the people,” according to a China Central TV report.
The carefully worded report also went into details about senior party officials’ pledges of support for the amendments made during panel discussions at the national legislature and political advisory body sessions.
Xi also asked the Guangdong officials to develop its economy along a more sustainable and environmentally friendly path.
He asked the officials to maintain a balanced development between its urban and the rural areas and said that even with rapid urbanisation anywhere between 300 million and 400 million people will still live in the countryside.
Xi asked the Guangdong cadres to explore new approaches to social governance and to include migrant workers in the management of local community affairs. (IPA Service)
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