President Xi inspects Yantai Industrial Park of Wanhua Chemical, June 13, 2018. (Xinhua Photo)

State-owned enterprises must carry out reforms in order to achieve success, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday during an inspection tour in Yantai City in east China's Shandong Province, urging local enterprises to establish a modern corporate system.

President Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspected facilities of Wanhua Chemical and CIMC Raffles in Yantai after attending the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in nearby Qingdao over the weekend.

At Yantai Industrial Park of Wanhua Chemical, Xi stressed that independent innovation is key to the success of a company, praising Wanhua Chemical for growing into a leader in the chemical industry through innovation and creation.

Xi also visited Yantai Manufacturing Base of CIMC Raffles, a provider of high-quality offshore equipment. The company delivered the world's most advanced ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig "Bluewhale I."

Learning that "Bluewhale I" has set two world records in exploiting and processing combustible ice, the Chinese president encouraged the company to make further breakthroughs.

Core technologies cannot be bought, Xi said, calling on the company to make more efforts in independent innovation.