Beijing : China must work to create a path to modernisation that is more efficient than capitalism and better safeguards social justice, President Xi Jinping told top officials.

Innovation must be placed in a prominent position in overall national development, which should achieve higher efficiency than capitalism while maintaining fairness in the society more effectively, state-run Xinhua news agency reported Xi as saying Tuesday. China should better balance and unify efficiency and fairness, Xi said in the speech to senior officials including all the other members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, Central Committee members, provincial leaders and ministers.

"Chinese-style modernisation breaks the myth of ‘modernisation equals Westernisation’ and "provides a Chinese solution for human beings to explore a better social system,” Xi said. "Experience has proved that Chinese-style modernisation is feasible and stable, and it is the only correct path for building a strong country and rejuvenating the nation.”

The core of achieving this goal lies with sticking to the leadership of the Communist Party, Xi said, adding that this will decide the "ultimate success or failure” of China’s efforts to develop. In the short-term, China must strive to achieve an overall improvement in economic activity this year, Xi said, adding further efforts should be made to guide business entities to strengthen confidence and stabilise social expectations.

The country needs to better coordinate Covid prevention and control and economic and social development, as well as the relationship between development and security, he said.

Those concerns about the economy are similar to comments made by Premier Li Keqiang at a separate meeting Tuesday, were he called for efforts to consolidate and expand the economic recovery trend. China’s economic growth stabilized at the end of last year and picked up at the beginning of this year, according to Li.

Consumption, which has been the main driving force of the economy for many years, has now stopped falling and increased significantly in January, he said. However, there are still many risks, challenges and uncertainties for the economy, Li said, noting demand is still insufficient and companies, especially small firms and those in the consumer service industry, are still facing difficulties.

  - Bloomberg