Criticized the United States-led "suppression of China", President Xi Jinping has urged the country's private sector to boost innovation and become more self-reliant. China's technology ambitions have faced restrictions from the United States and its Western allies.
Beijing has doubled down on the need to shift away from imports for sectors perceived as vital to national security, such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence. The United States has tightened sanctions on Chinese chipmakers, citing national security concerns and the risk of technology being used by China's military.
In a rare direct criticism of the United States, Xi told industry leaders that "Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-round containment, encirclement, and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented severe challenges to our country's development." Xi, who will be granted a third consecutive presidential term in the coming days at the highly choreographed National Party Congress (NPC), said the past five years have been riddled with a new set of hurdles that threaten to weigh down China's economic rise.
Xi said China must "have the courage to fight as the country faces profound and complex changes in both the domestic and international landscape," according to state-run Xinhua news agency. He addressed delegates at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which runs alongside the NPC. Xi stated that private firms "should take the initiative to pursue high-quality development," Xinhua reported late Monday.
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Earlier this week, Xi vowed to bolster China's manufacturing capacity and said the country should be able to fend for itself. "As a great nation of 1.4 billion people, we must rely on ourselves... We can't depend on international markets to save us," he said.
China's foreign minister Qin Gang later said the relationship between China and the United States needed to be based on mutual interests and friendship, rather than "US domestic politics and hysterical neo-McCarthyism." In a wide-ranging press conference, former US ambassador Qin dismissed warnings from Western countries that China may supply arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, saying it would not accept "blame-shifting, sanctions, suppression, and threats" targeting Beijing.
China last month released a position paper outlining its stance on the Ukraine conflict, portraying itself as a neutral party and urging the two sides to enter peace negotiations. Beijing's claim to neutrality has been questioned by the United States and other Ukrainian allies, with Russia and China describing their bilateral relationship as having "no limits" just weeks before the invasion.
Qin said China was "neither a creator of the crisis nor a party to it, and it has not provided weapons to any party," adding peace talks should start "as soon as possible." Beijing's relationship with Moscow is "not a threat to any country in the world," he said.
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Qin also reiterated the official line that China would "maintain the option of taking all necessary actions" to reclaim Taiwan. He warned against "underestimating the strong determination, firm will, and powerful ability of the Chinese government and Chinese people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."
