China’s Xi Calls For More Military Innovation as Spending Rises
- Leader calls for speeding up push for high-tech independence
- Tensions between Beijing, Washington mount over chips, Taiwan
Xi Jinping at the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 7.
Photographer: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping called on the military to make breakthroughs in securing technological advantages amid “international competition,” underscoring Beijing’s efforts to counter US efforts to cut it off from key advanced semiconductors.
China must speed up its push for high-tech independence and improve supply-chain resilience, Xi told a gathering of military delegates to the National People’s Congress on Wednesday, state media said. The president also called for efforts to “systematically upgrade the country’s overall strength to cope with strategic risks, safeguard strategic interests and realize strategic objectives.”