Xi lays down red lines for Yangtze River development

Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday called for achieving high-quality economic growth through developing the Yangtze River economic belt.

Xi was speaking at a symposium on promoting development of the Yangtze River economic belt in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province.

He stressed the importance of enhancing reform and innovation, strategic coordination as well as planning and guiding in developing the economic belt.

“It is a major decision made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and a major strategy concerning overall national development to promote the development of the Yangtze River economic belt,” Xi said. He called for all-out efforts to protect the Yangtze River, saying there should be no large-scale development of the river.

“In developing the economic belt, the key lies in properly dealing with the relationship between pressing ahead on the whole and making breakthroughs in key areas, between ecological environment protection and economic development, between making an overall plan and making unremitting efforts, between getting rid of old growth engines and cultivating new engines, and between developing individually and developing in a coordinated way,” he said.

During his visit, Xi also urged stronger independent innovation capacity for China, saying the country must master the core technology of high-end equipment.

China must rely on its own efforts, Xi said at the Three Gorges Dam.

As the world’s largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges project is a multifunctional water control system. It comprises a dam stretching 2,309 meters long and 185 meters high, 32 hydropower turbo-generators, a five-tier ship lock and ship lift system.

China would not have its leading ability if it had relied on others to build the dam, said Xi. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation can only be achieved through untiring struggle, the president said.

Xi inspected the ship lock, the ship lift system and the power plants on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, and listened to reports about work on topics including construction, power generation, navigation and environmental protection.

During an inspection of a new material industrial park on the Yangtze River, Xi stressed coordination in ecological protection and economic development.

Ecological restoration should be the top priority, he said, noting China’s mother river must be protected, and any exploitation that is destructive to the environment must be forbidden.

China will push for industrial transformation and upgrading in the region, and foster suitable sectors under the precondition of ecological protection, to achieve high-quality development in a scientific, orderly manner, Xi said.