ULANQAB, Inner Mongolia, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping emphasized on Oct. 16 that green development is an inherent requirement of high-quality development, calling for efforts to coordinate high-quality development with high-level environmental protection.
Xi, also Chinese President and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection trip to the city of Ulanqab, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Xi stressed upholding a holistic and systematic approach to the conservation and improvement of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, grasslands, and deserts, promoting concerted efforts to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, expand green development, and pursue economic growth, and unswervingly following the path of prioritizing ecological conservation and pursuing green development.
On the morning of Oct. 16, Xi visited Ulanqab, accompanied by Wang Weizhong, Party secretary of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Bao Gang, chairman of the regional government.
Huangqihai Lake, located in Ulanqab's Qahar Right Wing Front Banner, is a closed inland lake. The lake was once on the verge of drying up due to climate and other impacts. After years of comprehensive conservation, its water body has gradually been restored and expanded.
Xi visited the Huangqihai Lake nature reserve, where he was briefed on Inner Mongolia's efforts to strengthen ecological conservation as well as local progress to advance the reserve's comprehensive environmental governance and restore the ecological environment. He also inspected the lake's shoreline and mudflats and observed birds inhabiting the area on-site.
Stressing that the essence of conserving wetlands is to preserve their natural state, he urged efforts to revere, adapt to and protect nature, fully implement the country's wetland protection law, firmly uphold ecological red lines, strenuously uplift the quality and stability of the ecosystem, and safeguard biodiversity. For degraded wetland ecosystems, he called for giving priority to natural restoration, supplemented by human intervention, and carrying out restoration in a scientific and sound manner.
Ulanqab enjoys abundant wind and solar resources. Giving full play to comparative strengths in green electricity, climate and geographic location, it has made positive progress in developing its green computing power industry in recent years. Xi visited Chahar High-Tech Development Zone and learned about Inner Mongolia's progress in advancing the construction of an engineering hub for the "East Data, West Computing" project and the development of the green computing power industry in an exhibition hall.
It is an important decision made by the CPC Central Committee to implement the "East Data, West Computing" project and build a national integrated computing power network, Xi noted. He said that efforts should be made to intensify sound planning, support of necessary elements and the safeguarding of security, so as to ensure the efficient operation of completed projects and finish the construction of follow-up ones on schedule. The industrial chains should be extended and the deep integration between the digital economy and the real economy be advanced to incessantly transform the strengths in computing power to strengths in development.
Afterward, Xi had cordial talks with heads of the computing power center projects, technicians, and staff members of the Chahar High-Tech Development Zone present on site. The national computing power network is one of the "six networks" on China's strategic infrastructure blueprint, he underlined, and the computing power industry is in a stage of accelerated development with broad prospects. It is hoped that all parties should earnestly implement the requirements for efficient, green and safe development, attach importance to "computing-electricity synergy" and "computing-water synergy", promote the construction and operation of computing power center projects, and actively foster the development of the green computing power industry, thereby making greater contributions to advancing the build-up of a Digital China and developing new quality productive forces.
Xi said the high-tech development zone should strengthen Party leadership and Party building, improve public services and guarantee the supply of production factors, and create a sound environment conducive to fostering the enterprising spirit for businesses and talent of all kinds.
He also inspected displays of local agricultural and livestock specialties, learned in detail about their main varieties and quality characteristics, and encouraged local authorities to better connect production with marketing to help farmers and herders increase their incomes.
During his inspection, Xi underscored that China has a vast territory with marked differences in resource endowments across its eastern, western, southern, northern, and central regions. On the new journey, all regions must act in accordance with the strategic decisions, planning and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, embrace and act on a correct view of governance performance, fully and faithfully implement the new development philosophy, keep up with the evolving trends and seize development opportunities, build on local conditions and leverage comparative advantages, and promote high-quality development suited to local conditions.
He Lifeng and leading officials of the relevant central Party and state departments also accompanied Xi on the inspection tour.■
