Chinese President Xi Jinping extends Spring Festival greetings to Chinese people at house and overseas ahead of the pageant on the Longfusi industrial space in Dongcheng district, Beijing, on February 10, 2026. Xi visited primary-level officers and residents in Beijing throughout a two-day inspection tour from February 9 to 10. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited primary-level officers and residents in Beijing throughout a two-day inspection tour from Monday to Tuesday, extending Spring Festival greetings to Chinese people at house and overseas ahead of the pageant, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xi, additionally basic secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, wished them good well being, profession success, and household happiness. He additionally wished the nation peace and prosperity in the Year of the Horse.
The inspection marked Xi’s first native inspection tour in 2026, the opening yr of the fifteenth Five-Year Plan interval (2026-30), in accordance to a separate report of the Xinhua News Agency.
Putting the people first
On Tuesday morning, Xi got here to a Beijing downtown group which was renovated to be barrier-free and age-friendly. He visited a group canteen for seniors to study in regards to the meal companies supplied there, Xinhua reported.
In Xicheng district, Xi additionally visited an condominium complicated for seniors, the place he frolicked with the aged, wishing them well being, longevity and a contented Spring Festival.
Xi talked with three supply employees who have been having a relaxation in the canteen, asking about their work and life, Xinhua reported.
“You’ve worked hard to meet the needs of countless households, and the city couldn’t function without workers like you. I hope you all can lead good lives and work well,” Xi mentioned.
Xi urged Party committees and governments at all ranges to look after employees in new types of employment and supply high quality companies for his or her work, day by day life and research.
Arriving on the Longfusi industrial space in Dongcheng District, Xi was briefed on city renewal efforts there. He stopped by a retailer of the normal bakery model Daoxiangcun, the place he watched pastry-making.
At a Spring Festival market, he visited numerous stalls promoting festive items and talked with people there, sharing recollections of his visits to the realm when he was younger. He additionally purchased some specialty meals and culture-themed merchandise.
Xi mentioned he was very happy to see the bustling, vibrant festive scene and well-stocked vacation items there.
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, it has been a long-standing observe for the nation’s prime chief to go to grassroots officers and people from numerous walks of life throughout the nation throughout festive events, providing greetings and increasing greatest needs, Xinhua mentioned in a separate report.
This people-centered strategy can also be mirrored in the formulation of the fifteenth Five-Year Plan, whose suggestions stress “putting the people first” and establish “further improvements in quality of life” as one of the primary aims of financial and social growth throughout the brand new five-year plan interval.
The Chinese chief’s alternative of inspection websites carries clear and deliberate coverage indicators, reflecting each essential demand-side issues and the people-centered growth philosophy, Hu Qimu, deputy secretary-general of the Forum 50 for Digital-Real Economies Integration, instructed the Global Times on Tuesday.
“The ‘silver economy’ is emerging as a major source of domestic demand growth, as many retirees today have both the financial capacity and the willingness to consume,” Hu mentioned, including that it’s going to stimulate provide throughout a variety of sectors – significantly companies and rising applied sciences like AI – creating new progress factors.
On the coverage entrance, the central authorities allotted 141 billion yuan ($20.37 billion) in central fiscal funds in advance to help people in want initially of the yr, as native governments moved to shore up the social security web and guarantee deprived teams keep heat by the winter and luxuriate in a secure and festive vacation season, CCTV reported on Monday.
Achieving larger tech self-reliance
On Monday morning, Xi visited a nationwide info expertise innovation park in Beijing E-Town, the place he seen shows showcasing sci-tech achievements in fields reminiscent of synthetic intelligence and robotics, and spoke with researchers and heads of expertise enterprises.
Xi mentioned he was “even more confident” in the nation’s sci-tech innovation after seeing what was introduced throughout the go to.
He confused that sci-tech self-reliance and energy is the “key” in China’s efforts to construct an incredible trendy socialist nation and urged the Chinese capital to leverage its distinctive strengths to make larger contributions in this regard.
Built in 2019, the park facilities on IT innovation whereas increasing into frontier areas together with synthetic intelligence, quantum info, 6G communications and clever {hardware}, in accordance to a press release the park despatched to the Global Times on Monday.
The Chinese chief’s go to to an info expertise innovation park highlights the central authorities’s deal with scientific and technological innovation because the core driver of the transition towards new-quality productive forces, Su Jian, a professor at Peking University’s School of Economics and director of its National Center for Economic Research, instructed the Global Times on Tuesday.
Information expertise, Su mentioned, is a core enabler for cutting-edge fields reminiscent of AI, the digital economic system and even aerospace, and the go to clearly indicators a push to deal with bottlenecks in key applied sciences, together with semiconductors.
The suggestions for the fifteenth Five-Year Plan name for reaching larger self-reliance and energy in science and expertise and steering the event of new high quality productive forces, emphasizing that Chinese modernization is underpinned by modernization in science and expertise.
Liu Gang, chief economist of the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies, mentioned 2026 is a decisive place to begin for figuring out the profitable implementation of China’s science-and-technology self-reliance technique over the following 5 years. “The inspection helps clarify strategic goals in emerging and future industries and sends a clear, positive signal to both industry and society,” he instructed the Global Times.
At the park, Galaxy General – an embodied multimodal foundation-model robotics firm – demonstrated its Galbot G1 robotic. In a press release despatched to the Global Times, founder and chief expertise officer Wang He who took half in Monday’s assembly mentioned the corporate stands prepared to function a core car for China’s participation in international tech competitors and Beijing’s efforts throughout the fifteenth Five-Year Plan interval to construct world-class expertise enterprises.
Amid more and more pronounced major-power competitors, the push for scientific and technological self-reliance is aimed not solely on the fifteenth Five-Year Plan however at laying a stable industrial basis and accumulating momentum for a for much longer horizon to advance Chinese modernization, Su mentioned.
The inspection’s twin deal with people’s livelihoods and technological innovation mirrored the highest management’s enduring look after public well-being and dedication to a people-centered growth philosophy, whereas additionally sending a transparent sign of coverage continuity as China doubles down on breakthroughs in expertise sectors to speed up new progress engines and underpin long-term financial transformation, Chinese consultants mentioned.
Regional hubs achieve traction
During the journey, Xi heard a piece report by Beijing municipal authorities and gave his approval for town’s progress throughout the board, Xinhua reported.
He requested the Chinese capital to seize the chance of enlarging the Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area) worldwide sci-tech innovation heart to strengthen its innovation coordination and industrial cooperation with Tianjin and Hebei, per Xinhua.
China’s innovation drive is backed by the collaboration of regional clusters. Cities reminiscent of Beijing are additionally accelerating the constructing of worldwide sci-tech innovation facilities, markedly lifting innovation capability, competitiveness and spillover results. A report launched final month by Peking University confirmed that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei collaborative innovation index rose from 100 in 2013 to 388.0 in 2024, with a median annual progress charge of 13.1 %, in accordance to the Beijing Daily.
Su mentioned the selection of Beijing as the primary cease displays recognition of town’s position as a nationwide – and more and more international – innovation hub, aligning with the central authorities’s emphasis on the format of innovation and demonstrating continuity and sustained coverage help.