BEIJING, March 7 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on the armed forces to forge a stronger sense of mission, deepen reform and promote innovation, so as to comprehensively enhance strategic capabilities in emerging areas.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while attending a plenary meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress, or China's national legislature.

Xi said strategic capabilities in emerging areas are an important part of national strategies and strategic capabilities, and are of great significance to building a great country and advancing national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization.

Six lawmakers from the military spoke at the meeting on topics ranging from defense capabilities in cyberspace and the application of artificial intelligence to the development and utilization of unmanned combat capabilities.

Xi said China's drive to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces has provided rare opportunities for the development of strategic capabilities in emerging areas.

He called for enabling new quality productive forces and new quality combat capabilities to effectively integrate with and boost each other.

Xi urged efforts to coordinate maritime military preparedness, maritime rights and interests protection and marine economy development.

He called for optimizing aerospace layout to promote China's aerospace system development, and building cyberspace defense system to enhance the ability to safeguard national cybersecurity.

Xi noted that it is necessary to step up independent and original innovation, to foster drivers of growth for new quality productive forces and new quality combat capabilities.

He stressed the need to highlight reform in emerging areas as a priority for further comprehensively deepening reform, calling for an innovation ecosystem characterized by self-reliance, openness, integration and vitality.

It is necessary to deepen the structural reform of defense-related science and technology industries by accelerating the supply of new quality combat capabilities, Xi said.

He also urged efforts to build innovation chains, industrial chains and value chains tailored to the development of emerging areas, and to innovate in and explore the development and utilization of new types of combat forces.