Xi on SciTech; Possible TikTok deal; EU-China summit; Inner Mongolia; Leaked database

Last Friday Xi chaired a “symposium of scientists on the development of science and technology during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period”.

Among the many issues raised by Xi in his speech at the meeting - （受权发布）习近平：在科学家座谈会上的讲话-新华网:

At present, China is faced with many practical problems that need to be resolved in the areas of economic and social development, improvement of people's livelihoods and national defence. For example, in agriculture, many seeds are heavily dependent on foreign countries, agricultural planting and processing technologies are relatively backward, and in some areas agricultural surface pollution and heavy metal pollution of arable land are serious. In terms of industry, some key core technologies are controlled by others, and some key components, parts and raw materials are dependent on imports. In terms of energy resources, the dependence on foreign oil reaches over 70%, oil and gas exploration and development, and new energy technologies are not suffi…