Government Should Assist, Not Dictate, High-Tech Development: Report

Vice Premier Liu He called for the government to focus more on providing assistance and less on planning for China’s high-tech sector, as the nation seeks to lessen its reliance on imported products.

The comments came in a government report published Wednesday after the first meeting of a new central technology group under the leadership of Liu, one of China’s top economic strategists. The report cited “profound changes in the external environment” — a reference to growing Western resistance to selling sophisticated technology to China.