To push for the nation's economic transition and industrial upgrading, Chinese leaders pledged on Monday greater commitment to the research and application of science and technology.

In a show of unprecedented importance, both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang addressed an event combining three top-level science conferences attended by 4,000 scientists and science officials.

Xi said the central government's commitment is aimed at making China a leading power in science and technology by the middle of the century, or around the 100th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.