Beijing Calls for Tech Self-Reliance at Party Meeting

TaiwanPlus News

Chinese President Xi Jinping has closed the Communist Party’s Fourth Plenum in Beijing, where a communique pushed for technological self-reliance and higher-quality growth going into the next five-year economic plan. The meeting also featured a major military shakeup, with nine senior officers expelled amid a wider purge of top brass.

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00:00Chinese President Xi Jinping closes out one of the Communist Party's key meetings of the year,

00:09the Fourth Plenum in Beijing. The party issued recommendations to bolster China's technological

00:14capacity and aim for higher quality growth in the years ahead. The weeks before the meeting

00:19saw political purges in the military, with nine generals expelled, including the country's

00:25second-highest-ranking general, He Weidong, replaced by Xi loyalist Zhang Shengmin.

00:45The meeting sets the tone for the country's next five-year economic plan, to be finalized next

00:50spring. China wants independence from countries like the U.S. in critical technologies like chips

00:55and AI. But those lofty goals come as the country experiences slowing economic growth, a struggling

01:01real estate sector, and falling exports. That's due in large part to U.S. tariffs. Those trade

01:07tensions will be front and center at a meeting between China's Xi and U.S. President Donald

01:11Trump in South Korea next week. Trump will arrive in Asia this weekend ahead of the ASEAN and APEC

01:17summits, where regional partners have their own concerns. Southeast Asian countries that may not

01:22necessarily be formally aligned with the U.S., they also see the United States as a vital economic

01:28partner, but also an important security partner and counterweight to China in their neighborhood.

01:34There will be a lot of interest on whether the U.S. and China can hammer out some kind of truce

01:39and a sustainable trade deal. Trade tensions have escalated in recent weeks, with China issuing export

01:45controls on key rare earth minerals used in chips and weapon systems, and the U.S. threatening new

01:51100% tariffs on China. In Taiwan, some worry that Washington might soften or recalibrate its stance

01:57on Taipei to clinch a China trade deal, even as Beijing steps up military pressure across the Taiwan

02:03strait. But local experts say that if China wants to become the world's leading tech powerhouse,

02:08cross-strait peace remains key.

02:14Now, all eyes turn to South Korea, where a decision by the two leaders could have wide-ranging consequences.

02:36Joseph Wu and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.

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