President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed that high-quality development is the top priority in building China into a modern socialist country in all respects. He made the remarks on Sunday afternoon during a deliberation with deputies from the delegation of Jiangsu Province at the first session of the 14th National People's Congress. Xi is a deputy of the delegation.

Xi stressed that we must fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, and as far as understanding, assessing and promoting development is concerned, we must make sure that the development is innovative, coordinated, green, open and for everyone in a well-integrated manner. A better balance must be maintained between effective rise in quality and reasonable growth in quantity, with quality first and priority given to economic and social benefits. We need to raise awareness of quality, and regard quality as precious as life to pursue higher quality. We must stay committed to deepening reform and opening up, further transform the growth model, and work for better quality with higher efficiency and more robust drivers of economic growth through reform, so as to accelerate the development of institutions and mechanisms for sustainable high-quality development. Our ultimate goal is to meet people's increasing expectation for a better life, so it is important to transform the achievements of development into quality of life so as to constantly increase people's sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security.

Xi was received by a round of warm applause when he came to the Jiangsu delegation.

The atmosphere was warm and serious in the delegation's panel deliberation. Deputies Xu Kunlin, Liu Qing, Shan Zenghai, Wei Qiao, Zhang Dadong and Wu Qingwen shared their opinions on how to serve the fostering of a new development pattern, how to vigorously promote coordinated innovation across regions, how to develop a stronger manufacturing industry, how to be "new farmers" of the times, how to cultivate talents for the Party, and how to be the pacemaker of the Chinese path to modernization. Xi would often make remarks between their speeches and compare notes with other deputies.