Defense industries urged to 'break new ground'

President Xi Jinping has urged equipment professionals working in China's defense industries and the armed forces to "break new ground" in hardware development and continue striving to achieve the Chinese military's key goals.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made his instructions to a top-level conference for the Chinese armed forces' weapons and equipment development. He said workers in defense industries and equipment officers in the People's Liberation Army as well as the People's Armed Police Force should uphold the Party's thoughts on strengthening the military and its defense strategies in the new era, speed up the implementation of tasks planned for the coming years, and establish a modern management system for equipment.

Xi said he expects the professionals to make more contributions to achieving the goals set by the Party for the armed forces to accomplish by 2027, the 100th anniversary of their founding.

The conference was held in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday. Participants included high-ranking military officers, senior government officials, executives of State-owned defense conglomerates and chief researchers.

General Zhang Youxia, a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission and the top official in charge of the military's equipment work, said at the conference that equipment authorities must focus on national security and defense needs, ensure self-reliance in science and technology and make all-out efforts to accelerate the process of hardware modernization.

Due to relentless efforts in equipment development, the PLA now has many advanced weapons such as stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers and large destroyers. Compared with old weapons, the new equipment has greater firepower, higher information-processing capacity and better mobility.