What more can Xi Jinping do for China Inc?

AS BEIJING tries to set growth expectations and bolster its economy, President Xi Jinping has reinforced the manufacturing industry’s pivotal role. It is, he said, “an indispensable sector to China at all times”.

That’s true, but it’s worth wondering how China can maintain the sector’s contribution as it tries to move up the industrial value chain. Rallying delegates at the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on Sunday (Mar 5), Xi said China would take “forceful” measures to support advanced production. He called for better quality growth and accelerating moves “to attain a high level of self-reliance in science and technology”.

The ambitious rhetoric came as Beijing revealed its annual growth target of 5 per cent – the lowest in its history of goal-setting. In the face of China’s economic challenges, partly self-inflicted by lockdowns, value-add from high-tech manufacturing grew 10.6 per cent. Sustaining this momentum, even with the country’s unmatchable production heft, will be an uphill task now.