JINAN, Jan. 15 -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing has stressed the need to ensure workplace safety and advance the reform of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Zhang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the instruction during an inspection tour in east China's Shandong Province between Jan. 13 and 15.

During his visits to an array of technology, engineering, and chemical companies in the cities of Jinan and Yantai, Zhang noted that SOEs must expedite the implementation of reform measures, urging these firms to redouble efforts in improving vitality and bolstering their core business.

These companies should also encourage sci-tech innovation and optimize their industrial structures to support national strategies aimed at securing sci-tech independence, stabilizing industrial and supply chains, and ensuring energy security, he said.

While inspecting a local fire station and a food and medicine testing center, Zhang called on safety authorities to bolster vocational training and safety supervision. He also emphasized rooting out safety hazards and sharpening emergency response capabilities.