Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong Friday called for more efforts to strengthen the country's scientific and technological infrastructure at a foundation laying ceremony for an engineering materials test center in Beijing.

Scientific and technological infrastructure partly represent the nation's strength in science and technology, Liu, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said.

"The test center must serve China's strategic needs and be at the forefront of global scientific and technological research. It must also develop indigenous state-of-the-art technologies," she said.

Located in Zhongguancun, dubbed China's 'Silicon Valley,' the safety test center will be a platform for research and a place to assess the safety and durability of engineering materials.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2010)