President: Secure growth with quality

President Xi Jinping has urged government officials to secure high-quality economic growth and boost innovation to meet people's increasing need for a better life.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark during a three-day inspection tour in Shandong province that ended on Thursday.

He said the key to advancing high-quality development is to pursue supply-side structural reform, pushing for changes in quality, efficiency and drivers of economic growth.

Solid efforts are needed to promote industrial transformation and upgrading as well as innovation-driven development, he added.

Xi highlighted the importance of ensuring economic growth, advancing reforms, readjusting the economic structure, improving people's well-being as well as forestalling risks, saying continuous efforts are needed to win the three critical battles against potential risk, poverty and pollution.

On Thursday, Xi visited an Inspur Group factory building high-end fault-tolerant computers in Jinan, the provincial capital. He inspected the production process and workflow and talked with employees.

Pushing innovation-driven development and fostering new growth drivers are key to overcoming difficulties in the nation's development, Xi said.

On Wednesday, when Xi visited Yantai, a coastal city in the province, he urged State-owned enterprises to press ahead for reforms, encouraging them to build capacity for independent innovation.

Clinging to outmoded ideas or practices will lead nowhere, and reforms are needed to enable State-owned enterprises to modernize, he said.

Representatives of Wanhua Chemical, a local shareholding company restructured from a State-owned enterprise, told Xi about the company's efforts to change from an enterprise with backward technologies into an industry flagship, highlighting their growing capabilities in technological innovation.

Xi said he believes the company's success results from independent innovation. Nothing is impossible, but vigorous efforts are needed, he added.

The 19th CPC National Congress called for further reform of State-owned enterprises and developing mixed-ownership economic entities to make them globally competitive.

Xi also visited a base of Yantai China International Marine Containers Raffles, where he talked with worker representatives and learned more about company efforts to develop, design and manufacture high-end marine equipment through independent innovation.