President calls for unified, open economy

General secretary urges efforts to improve regional planning, upgrade industrial chains

President Xi Jinping on Monday called for efforts to improve regional economic planning that leverages complementary advantages to push high-quality growth and boost the country's industrial capability.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed in his speech at a meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs that China needs to fully explore the collective strength of its system and take advantage of its large domestic market to upgrade and modernize its industrial chains.

The meeting stressed the necessity to foster a unified, open and competitive economy and let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation. It also urged efforts to promote balanced and coordinated development across the country and deepen regional cooperation.

Top policymakers at the meeting also decided to accelerate the work of forming a unified pension system at the national level and to boost mutual support among different regions.

The meeting also called on the northeastern region, China's old industrial base, to actively adjust its economic structure, push diversified industrial development, accelerate the reform of State-owned enterprises and create new frontiers for further opening-up.

Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor of international trade at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that stepping up efforts to redress the imbalance of development among different regions will help unleash new growth momentum.

"To achieve coordinated development of different regions and avoid excessive competition, authorities should tap into comparative advantages of each region and stick to targeted development strategies," Liu said.

Amid rising protectionism and intensified global competition, sharpening the capacity of China's industrial chains will help the country attract global capital and fend off the possibility of outbound industrial transfers, Liu said.

Huang Maoxing, dean of the School of Economics at Fujian Normal University, said that the Chinese economy is growing in a more balanced way. This will help foster a solid base and necessary conditions for high-quality development, he said.

Monday's meeting pointed out that China needs to restructure and improve its industrial base to make it more self-reliant.

The meeting also called for greater support for technological collaboration among companies to boost the country's industrial chains.

Ouyang Shijia contributed to this story.