Chinese president urges Shanghai stronger competitiveness

SHANGHAI, May 24 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged Shanghai to push forward reform, pursue scientific development and improve its competitiveness.

Xi made the remarks during his inspection in Shanghai from Friday to Saturday after attending the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

He visited the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), saying the decision to build the zone was an important step of China's reform and opening up in modern times.

He was told on Friday afternoon that more than 16,000 enterprises with 280,000 employees have entered the zone in the past eight months, which have seen transparency of investment management, convenience of trading, financial innovation and reform of governmental administration.

The president stressed that the FTZ in Shanghai is a large pilot that needs careful management. The management should combine structural reform and the exploration of new methods, while controlling risks and gradually making improvements.

Institutional innovation should be focused on to create a fair and efficient international business environment, the president said.

Risk control is the bottom line to guarantee the whole process of constructing the zone, and the demands of various businesses for institutional improvement should be emphasized, he said.

The president also visited a cultural trade base in the zone and called on the staff to contribute more to the development and promotion of the country's cultural industries.

After leaving the FTZ, Xi visited the design and research center of China's state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation (COMAC), praising the company's technological breakthroughs in the past six years since it was founded in 2008.

China's largest home made passenger aircraft C919 was designed by the COMAC. Xi said that the research and production of large airliners represent the competitiveness of a country's aviation industry and demonstrate the national power.

China still has a long way to go in developing the industry of large airliners, which calls for perseverance and confidence, the president said.

On Saturday, Xi inspected a medical science company and an automobile company, and expected more independent intellectual property rights and innovation in Chinese enterprises.

He urged more domestic production of modern medical equipment and faster development of new energy vehicles.

The president pointed out that technological innovation has become a pillar in improving a country's strength and boosting reforms in modern times.

China should strive for breakthroughs in advanced technologies and take opportunities to update industrial structure, improve the system of applying and protecting intellectual property rights, and value the wisdom of talents, he said.

Xi urged Shanghai to lead the country in cultivating and practicing the socialist core values and promoting the values into people's daily life.

He stressed the importance of Shanghai in bolstering the exchanges and cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta, one of China's richest areas, and called on the metropolis to continue enhancing regional cooperation and integration and achieving fast economic growth.

Local officials should improve their work abilities and update their knowledge with higher vision and thought, and guard against corruption, the president added.