File photo:Xinhua

China should build self-controlled, safe and reliable domestic production and supply system in fields concerning national security, Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote in Qiushi Journal.

The system could realize self-circulation at critical moments and ensure normal economic operation under extreme conditions, he added.

“In order to ensure China’s industrial security and national security, we must build self-controlled, safe and reliable domestic production and supply chain. We should strive to have at least one alternative source for important products and supply channels to form a necessary industrial backup system,” Xi said, according an article published on Qiushi’s website on Saturday.

Xi underscored the importance of industrial chain and supply chain: one key feature for major economic power is that its industrial chain and supply chain should not be disrupted at a crucial moment.

China’s complete industrial chain has played a key role during the COVID-19 epidemic by guaranteeing the availability of important materials for epidemic prevention and control, however, the public health crisis has also exposed risks in the domestic supply chain and industrial chain, he said.

As nationwide production and economic resumption continues, “we shouldn’t and couldn’t simply repeat the previous model, but should strive to shape new industrial chain to enhance technological innovation and import substitution, which is the focus of deepening supply-side structural reforms and key to achieving high-quality development,” he wrote.

For the sectors where China has achieved pioneering advantages, for example the high-speed rail, power-generating equipment, and communication equipment, Xi suggested that technologies should be further honed, so as to forge strong countermeasures and deterrence capabilities when foreign parties block supplies. 

Global Times