Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday inspected key commercial establishments in Shanghai, home to some of the biggest foreign firms, as he attempted to shore up business confidence in China amid dwindling inflow of foreign investment and the movement of supply chains out of the country.
This is his first visit to Shanghai since the city was hit hard by COVID-19 leading to the harsh two-month-long lockdown in 2022 during which its 25 million population was confined to their dwellings under Xi's 'zero COVID' policy.
He visited the gleaming eastern Chinese city last in 2021. Xi, 70, in the last two days, inspected the Shanghai Futures Exchange, an exhibition on Shanghai's sci-tech innovations, and a government-subsidised rental housing community, learning about the city's efforts in strengthening its competitiveness as an international financial centre, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.