Xi Jinping stresses mobilizing national resources for core technology breakthroughs in key fields

BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, president of the People's Republic of China, chairman of the Central Military Commission and head of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, presided over the commission's 27th meeting on Tuesday afternoon. At the meeting, the commission reviewed and adopted five documents. They are opinions on improving a new system for mobilizing national resources to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields under the socialist market economy, opinions on deepening the reform of the academician system, opinions on comprehensively strengthening the resource conservation work, a guideline on deepening the pilot programs for market-based transfer of use right to rural collective land designated for business-related construction, and opinions on further deepening reforms to promote the healthy development of rural medical and healthcare system.

While presiding over the meeting, Xi stressed leveraging the notable strengths of China's socialist system in pooling resources and efforts for major undertakings, reinforcing the leadership of the Party and the state in major scientific and technological innovations, giving full play to the role of market mechanisms, focusing on the country's strategic needs and ensuring better allocation of innovation-related resources. He also stressed efforts to build up China's strategic scientific and technological strength and greatly improve the systematic capabilities in making breakthroughs in science and technology research, so as to develop competitive advantages and seize the strategic initiatives in a number of key sectors.

Priority should be given to institutional improvement and the solution of outstanding problems as we endeavor to screen out the most brilliant candidates for academicians and give better play to their role, so that such title will assert itself as an academic honor as it should.

The new development philosophy should be applied in a comprehensive and accurate manner, in the conservation of resources in the whole process of the economic and social development and in its all fields. Efforts should be made to promote overall management, rational allocation, comprehensive conservation and recycling of resources, and to raise the utilization efficiency of resources including energy, water, food, land, minerals and raw materials, so as to expedite a fundamental shift in the way resources are utilized.

Work should be done to deepen pilot programs for market-based transfer of use right to rural collective land designated for business-related construction, during the process of which requirements must be strict and procedures standardized so as to explore solutions to deep-seated problems that have arisen during our reform.

It is important to build up a rural medical and healthcare system that fits the countryside and features quality and efficiency, so that residents could enjoy access to fairer and more systemic medical services in their vicinity.

Li Keqiang, Wang Huning and Han Zheng, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, attended the meeting.

It was noted at the meeting that, with the forces of the government, market and society well combined, national strengths should be mobilized, reasonably coordinated and relevant mechanism optimized to form a synergy in research so that a new national system will be built up to facilitate core technological breakthroughs in key areas. Strategic planning and systematic resources deployment should be strengthened and oriented to our national strategic goals, targeting key areas and important tasks that have a bearing on the country's industrial, economic and national security. Priorities and main tasks should be clarified to focus on key technologies that would enable our country to gain the upper hand in competitions and on basic and cutting-edge technologies that will steer the course for future development.

We should strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee and establish an authoritative decision-making and command system.

We should build an organization and operation mechanism for making key breakthroughs in a coordinated manner, efficiently allocate scientific and technological forces and innovation resources, strengthen cross-domain and interdisciplinary efforts in research, so as to form a strong synergy in making breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

Efforts should be made to promote a better combination of an effective market and an efficient government, strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation, accelerate the transformation of the government function in the management of science and technology, so as to create a better innovation ecology and stimulate enterprises in innovation.

It was stressed at the meeting that academician is the highest honorary title in the fields of science, technology and engineering in China. Academicians with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering play an important role in promoting the independent development of high-level science and technology.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, we have worked to improve the selection and evaluation mechanism of academicians, optimize the layout of disciplines, implement the retirement and exit system and advance the work and study style. The academician system has been continuously improved.

We should make it a great concern to select academicians from major scientific research projects and national programs, with contributions, academic achievements and ethics as the criteria to prevent unhealthy tendencies in the selection of additional academicians.

We should do whatever necessary to encourage and support academicians in devoting themselves to scientific research, advance their work and study style, and free them from interruption of non-academic factors.

We should strengthen supervision to intensify their sense of responsibility in the research ethics and academic norms, so as to create a better academic and scientific research environment.

Academicians should strengthen their political standing, enhance their sense of responsibility, and play an exemplary role in actively undertaking urgent, difficult, risky and important scientific research tasks, solving major original scientific problems, doing their part to purify the academic environment and training young scientific researchers.

It was noted at the meeting that conservation of resources is a fundamental national policy, and also an important mission for safeguarding national resource security and promoting ecological conservation and high-quality development. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the strategy of encouraging conservation across the board has been deployed and implemented, and the intensity of utilizing energy, water and soil resources has been reduced. Efforts have been made to develop circular economy, advocate the exercise of thrift and oppose extravagance across the society and promote the conservation and utilization of resources with high efficacy and efficiency, and encouraging progress has been made. More endeavors are required to further conservation of resources in major areas such as energy, industries, construction and transportation, and the pivotal role of scientific and technological innovation should be given full play to promote energy-saving and low-carbon production. It is imperative to raise the awareness of thriftiness among the people, encourage simple, moderate, green and low-carbon ways of life and oppose extravagance and excessive consumption so as to create an atmosphere where all the people glorify thriftiness. Market- and law-based measures should be taken in an all-round manner to speed up building a mechanism forming the prices of resources, which corresponds to the extent of scarcity of resources, the expense of ecological damage and the cost of environmental pollution. The efficiency of energy, water and material consumption in key industries and major products should be constantly improved and gradually raised so as to facilitate the sound allocation and conservation of resources. It is imperative to balance the relationship between utilization and conservation, development and protection, locality and entirety, and short-term and long-term needs. We should not only bear firmly in mind the possibility of worst scenarios, carry out strict supervision and management and guard against and defuse major risks related to resources, but also take into account the actual need for social and economic development, according to the meeting.

It was stressed at the meeting that promoting the reform for the market-based transfer of use right to rural collective land designated for business-related construction is a matter that concerns the immediate interests of farmers and entails major adjustments of interests among various sectors, which should be carried out in a prudent and steady manner. The number of pilot counties (cities, districts) should be kept controllable. Equal market access should be given to both rural collective construction land and state-owned construction land to make sure they have the same right and price, on condition that they are in line with the planning policy, usage regulation and acquired in accordance with the law, so that they can be traded in a construction land market which applies the same rules in both urban and rural regions and subject to due supervision. We should continue to conserve land resources and use them efficiently, adhere to the principle of "planning ahead of construction", and lay out a balanced plan for lands of different usages. The public ownership of land must be firmly maintained, the size of arable land be kept from being encroached upon and the interests of farmers be well protected. We should secure the designation of permanent basic cropland, the red lines for protecting the ecosystems and delineation of boundaries for urban development.

It was noted that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to the building of the rural healthcare system. A series of measures have been taken to improve infrastructures, strengthen the rank of medical workers and refine operating systems of healthcare institutions in rural areas. The rural healthcare service capacity has been continuously bolstered, with the basic healthcare service equally accessible to all rural residents. More efforts were urged to make an overall planning for county-based healthcare resources, optimize their distribution and ensure a rational allocation of healthcare resources in rural areas. To build a professional and standardized team of rural doctors, solid steps should be taken to enhance talent cultivation and introduction and solve the problems concerning rural doctors' salary and welfare. The healthcare capacity in rural areas should be further improved and the functions of the rural healthcare service system be strengthened. To safeguard people's health, more work should be done to enhance the capacity of disease prevention and control and speed up the building of a strong public health system.

Present at the meeting were members of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform. Leading officials of relevant departments of the CPC Central Committee and the central government attended the meeting as non-voting delegates.