Overview

• Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Shanghai, focusing on tech innovation, supply chains, and developmental security.
• Xi emphasized the need for the Yangtze River Delta region to boost innovative capacity, industrial competitiveness, and supply chain expansion.
• Xi's visit comes amid economic challenges in China, including a real estate crisis, record youth unemployment, debt-ridden local governments, and a rapidly ageing population.
• Xi's visit also highlighted the importance of affordable housing, visiting a government-subsidized rental housing community.
• The visit coincides with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone, a testing ground for economic reforms.