Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to increase his country’s production capacity and make it less dependent on foreign markets. The Chinese People’s Daily reports this.
Xi declared at the annual meeting of the People’s Congress on Sunday that China should be able to take care of itself. “I have always said that there are two main themes for China: securing our food and building a strong manufacturing sector. As a large country with 1.4 billion inhabitants, we must rely on ourselves. We cannot depend on international markets to save us.”
China’s technological ambitions are being held back by a series of trade restrictions by the United States and other Western allies. As a result, Beijing is seeking to build a self-sufficient industry and make sectors considered essential to national security, such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, less dependent on importing technologies from abroad.
Washington has further tightened trade sanctions against Chinese chip makers in recent months. In addition, the Americans are concerned about their national security, as the Chinese military could use advanced Western technologies.
The outgoing Chinese Premier Li Keqiang started the People’s Congress on Sunday by announcing an increase in the defence budget. The prime minister also issued a modest economic growth target for 2023. However, this year’s growth target of around 5 percent is disappointing as China struggles with how to counter the recent shift of global production chains to countries such as India and Vietnam.