Xi Jinping Emphasizes During Capital Voluntary Tree-Planting Activity
Add Splendor to the Mountains, Rivers and Land
Make the Foundation of Chinese Modernization Even Brighter
Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi Participate
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 30 — Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese President, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, emphasized on the morning of March 30 while participating in the capital’s voluntary tree-planting activity that a good ecology is shared by all and also requires joint efforts to build. He called for organizing and mobilizing the whole society to take part extensively in afforestation, add splendor to the mountains, rivers and land, and make the foundation of Chinese modernization even brighter.
In Beijing, the spring breeze was warm and all things were flourishing. At around 10:40 a.m., Party and state leaders including Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi arrived together by vehicle at Baishan Town in Changping District to take part in voluntary tree planting with officials and local residents.
The tree-planting site is planned parkland. After the park is completed, it will provide the public with an ecological leisure space.
Seeing the General Secretary arrive, officials and local residents who were planting trees warmly greeted him. Xi Jinping waved to everyone, picked up a shovel, and walked to the planting site, joining responsible officials from Beijing and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, as well as officials, local residents and Young Pioneers, in the work.
Shoveling soil, firming the earth around the seedlings, building watering basins, and carrying water for irrigation, Xi Jinping planted several saplings, including Chinese pine, Beijing peony, flowering almond, eucommia, and Acer truncatum. While planting trees, he asked the children about their studies and daily lives, labor practice, and participation in tree planting. Xi Jinping emphasized that young people, like saplings, are full of vitality and hope. They should set lofty aspirations from an early age, love knowledge, labor and nature, develop morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and in labor education, and strive to grow into pillars of society. The atmosphere on site was warm and busy.
Xi Jinping spoke cordially with the officials and local residents present. He said that since the 18th CPC National Congress, China’s forest area and forest stock volume have continued to achieve “double growth,” while the areas of desertified and sandy land have continued to achieve “double reduction.” China has become the country with the largest and fastest increase in greenery in the world, and blue skies, green land and clear waters have become the norm. Not long ago, China promulgated the Ecological Environment Code, further strengthening the legal foundation for building a Beautiful China. Afforestation is an important task in building a Beautiful China. We must hold firmly to this goal, focus on the present, keep the long term in mind, work relay-style from generation to generation, and carry out this major undertaking that benefits both the country and the people in a solid manner.
Xi Jinping emphasized that this year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period and the 45th anniversary of the nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign. In advancing land greening under the new circumstances, greater attention should be paid to improving quality, developing industries, and benefiting the people, so as to coordinate planting and management, promote both ecology and industry, and achieve harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. Greening space should be used in a coordinated way, with greenery determined according to land and water conditions, and greening work carried out according to local conditions: trees where suitable, and grass where suitable. Greater efforts should be made to strengthen management and protection, carry out sustainable forest management by region and category, effectively promote grassland protection and restoration, comprehensively improve the quality and functions of forests and grasslands, and protect greening achievements through fire and pest prevention. Channels should be opened for realizing the value of ecological products, forestry and grassland industries should be strengthened, and both economic value and ecological benefits should be enhanced. Urban and rural greening and beautification should be advanced in coordination, with green spaces added wherever possible around the people, so that urban and rural residents can gain a stronger sense of green benefits.
Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, state councilors and others in Beijing also participated in the tree-planting activity.
Source: Xinhua News Agency