Chinese President XI Jinping addresses the opening of the 19th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in Beijing on May 28, 2018. (Photo: Xinhua)
Chinese President XI Jinping called for efforts to develop China into a world leader in science and technology at the opening ceremony of this year’s CAS General Assembly in Beijing.
XI said as China strives for prosperity and rejuvenation, it needs to devote a huge amount of resources to promoting science and technology, and endeavor to become a world center for science and innovation.
Referring to the situation as “pressing”, the President called on the country's science and technology workers to seize the opportunities and rise to challenges. He asked scientists to aim for the frontiers of science and technology, take the lead, and become vanguards in innovation in the new era.
In his speech, XI said that historic and structural changes have taken place in China’s science and technology sector. China is going through a transition from quantity accumulation to quality leap-forward and from breakthroughs in certain fields to overall improvement of performance. As a new round of scientific, technological and industrial revolutions is reshaping the world, the impact of science and technology on a country’s future and its people’s wellbeing has never been so profound as today, he said.
XI said that efforts must be made to ensure “high-quality science and technology” to underpin the development of a modernized economy. By integrating the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence with economic development and industrial innovation, China will move from the low to the medium or high end of the global value chain.
He called for courage in researchers to explore the uncharted courses so one day China will have all self-developed core technologies. “The initiatives of innovation must be secured in our own hands,” he said.
XI called on Chinese scientists to be deeply involved in the global science and technology activities by offering Chinese wisdom, and by promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. This could be achieved through deepening international cooperation, making use of global innovation resources, and fostering win-win partnerships to deal with common challenges such as food and energy security, health and climate change.
While working on its own development, China should also bring benefits to other countries and peoples and help with better development in the rest of the world, XI said.
XI also called for efforts to create a friendly environment for innovation, and mechanisms to foster talents and let everybody display their talent. He also stressed the role of youth in a country’s future. “Numerous children in China dream of becoming a scientist. We should make science an appealing career for them,” he said.
The opening ceremony was presided over by CAS President BAI Chunli and attended by members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, including Premier LI Keqiang, WANG Huning and HAN Zheng.
The 19th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Engineering were convened in Beijing from May 28 to June 1, 2018. (Based on reporting by Xinhua News Agency)