Chinese President Xi pledges to increase production capacity: ‘We must rely on ourselves’ | outside

Xi declared at the annual meeting of the People’s Congress on Sunday that China should be able to take care of itself. “I have always said that there are two main issues for China: one is to secure our food and the other is to build a strong manufacturing sector. As a large country with a population of 1.4 billion, we have to rely on ourselves. We do not depend on international markets to save us.”

China’s technological ambitions are being hampered by a series of trade restrictions by the United States and other Western allies. As a result, Beijing seeks to build a self-sufficient industry and make sectors considered essential to national security, such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, less dependent on importing technologies from abroad.

Washington has tightened trade sanctions against Chinese chipmakers in recent months. The Americans are concerned about their national security, as the Chinese army can use advanced Western technologies.

So outgoing Chinese Premier Li Keqiang kicked off Sunday’s People’s Congress by announcing an increase in the defense budget. The prime minister also issued a modest economic growth target for 2023. The growth target of around 5 percent for the year is disappointing as China grapples with the question of how to cope with the recent shift of global production chains to countries like India and Vietnam.