Get ready for difficult times, Xi warns

China must prepare for difficult times as the international situation is increasingly complex, President Xi Jinping said in comments carried by state media on Wednesday, as the country faces increased tariffs in a bitter trade war with Washington.

The two countries are locked in tit-for-tat tariff increases on each other's imports, after talks broke down to resolve their dispute.

Acrimony has intensified since Washington last week blacklisted Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei Technologies, a potentially devastating blow for the company that has rattled technology supply chains and investors around the world.

During a three-day trip this week to the southern province of Jiangxi, one of the cradles of China's Communist revolution, Xi urged people to learn the lessons of hardship of the past.

"Today, on the new Long March, we must overcome various major risks and challenges from home and abroad and win new victories for socialism with Chinese characteristics," state news agency Xinhua paraphrased Xi as saying.

"Our country is

still in a period of important strategic opportunities for development, but the international situation is increasingly complicated," he added.

"We must be conscious of the long-term and complex nature of various unfavourable factors at home and abroad, and appropriately prepare for various difficult situations." The report did not elaborate on those difficulties, and nor was there a direct mention of the trade war or of the United States.

Xi also talked about the importance of technology, and "emphasised that technology innovation is the lifeblood of companies".