<p>China's President Xi Jinping has called for further development of the Yangtze River economic belt as part of the country's "dual circulation" strategy, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.</p>.<p>Xi first raised the concept of dual circulation in May this year, amid a rift with the United States, and later explained China would rely mainly on "internal circulation" - the domestic cycle of production, distribution, and consumption - for its development, supported by "external circulation."</p>.<p>Speaking in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on Saturday, Xi said provinces and cities along Asia's longest river - which flows from west to east China - should promote "coordinated development" and "guide the orderly transfer of capital, technology and labour-intensive industries in (Yangtze river) downstream regions to upstream and midstream regions."</p>.<p>They should also "actively open their markets to the world," he said, according to Xinhua.</p>.<p>The sprawling Yangtze economic belt spans 11 Chinese provincial-level regions and covers around 2.1 million sq km, accounting for 21% of China's total land area and more than 40% of its population, according to state media. </p>
<p>China's President Xi Jinping has called for further development of the Yangtze River economic belt as part of the country's "dual circulation" strategy, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.</p>.<p>Xi first raised the concept of dual circulation in May this year, amid a rift with the United States, and later explained China would rely mainly on "internal circulation" - the domestic cycle of production, distribution, and consumption - for its development, supported by "external circulation."</p>.<p>Speaking in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on Saturday, Xi said provinces and cities along Asia's longest river - which flows from west to east China - should promote "coordinated development" and "guide the orderly transfer of capital, technology and labour-intensive industries in (Yangtze river) downstream regions to upstream and midstream regions."</p>.<p>They should also "actively open their markets to the world," he said, according to Xinhua.</p>.<p>The sprawling Yangtze economic belt spans 11 Chinese provincial-level regions and covers around 2.1 million sq km, accounting for 21% of China's total land area and more than 40% of its population, according to state media. </p>