Experts, tech giants stress innovation efforts

Leading experts and tech giants have taken a cue from President Xi Jinping's speech on China's reform and opening-up and reiterated their commitment to spur innovation through technology advances.

Pony Ma, chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings Ltd, said Tencent will seek to play a pivotal role in science and technology innovation in the real economy, traditional industries as well as the digital economy.

"As an internet technology company, we will focus on scientific and high-quality development, embrace the industrial internet and ramp up efforts to promote the use of applications like WeChat, QQ and mobile payments," he said.

To drive economic and social development, Ma said that Tencent will deepen its businesses to be a "connector", a "toolbox" as well as a "co-builder of the ecosystem."

The comments came after Xi reaffirmed China's commitment to open up even more to the outside world at a grand gathering on Tuesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to mark the 40th anniversary of the country's reform and opening-up.

At the meeting, Xi also pledged to support the building of an open, transparent, inclusive and nondiscriminatory multilateral trading system, facilitate trade and investment, and promote more openness amid ongoing economic globalization.

President Xi's speech was remarkable, said Wei Jianguo, a former vice-minister of commerce. The reform and opening-up has created a great spirit, and is now an intrinsic characteristic of the Chinese people, said Wei, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Looking ahead, the country should continue to focus on boosting domestic development and the world economy, Wei told China Daily.

He stressed China needs to add more "speed", "vitality" and "depth" to the reform and opening-up in the next decades.

The country needs to speed up the pace of advancing supply-side structural reform and optimizing the business environment, while leading to another round of reform and opening-up and instilling fresh enthusiasm in the market, Wei said.

Wei said high-level reform and opening-up should also be expanded into new areas, contributing to quality economic growth.

Qu Xianming, an expert with the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee, added that as China pushes in-depth incorporation of technological advances with economic and social development, innovation will contribute to an increasingly large part of the real economy.

He Wei contributed to this story.