Xi Jinping stresses need for China to expand its talent pool, attract science and tech professionals
- Officials at all levels must join in the efforts, which are key to China’s technological self-reliance and national rejuvenation, president says
- ‘Our goal is: investment in research and development must increase substantially by 2025’
China is “more eager than any period in its history” for professional talents, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday at a high-level meeting attended by the top echelon of the Chinese Communist Party leadership.
During a two-day conference in Beijing on the development of skills, Xi stressed the need for officials at all levels to improve the country’s ability to vastly expand its talent pool and attract foreign professionals to work in China, saying this was key to the country’s technological self-reliance and national rejuvenation.
Xi “emphasised the need to adhere to the party’s management of talents, to face the frontiers of world science and technology, and the main economic battlefield,” according to a report by the official Xinhua news agency.
“At the end of the day, the country’s overall competitiveness is the competitiveness of its skilled personnel … National development depends on talent, and national rejuvenation depends on talent,” Xi was quoted as saying as he described how China can win amid global competition.
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Besides stressing that scientists and intellectuals in China must have the “correct political inclination”, Xi also highlighted the importance of making full use of the professionals and providing them with the best environment for development.
“[We must] insist on the correct political inclination, continuously improve the work of intellectuals, inspire talented people to feel a deep patriotism, forge ahead and serve the country,” Xi was quoted by Xinhua as saying in his speech.
