Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged northwest China's Shaanxi Province to play an exemplary role in promoting Chinese modernization in the western region.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks on Wednesday while hearing a report on the work of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee and the provincial government ahead of the upcoming China-Central Asia Summit, which he will preside over in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

He called for Shaanxi Province to give full play to its own strengths, focusing on the primary task of high-quality development, and actively integrate into and serve the construction of a new development paradigm.

The province should strive to achieve new breakthroughs in achieving scientific and technological self-sufficiency and self-improvement, building a modern industrial system, promoting the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, expanding a high level of openness to the outside world, and strengthening ecological and environmental protection, he said.

Shaanxi should speed up modernizing the industrial system that is intelligent, green and integrated, and meets the requirements of integrity, advancement and security, Xi said, demanding more efforts to strengthen its modern energy industrial clusters.

He urged efforts to open up wider and develop the inland province into a high ground for reform and opening up. The province should give full play to the city of Xi'an as an assembly center for China-Europe freight trains, move faster in becoming a pivotal opening-up channel for countries in Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia, he noted.

The most arduous tasks in building a modern socialist country in all respects and promoting common prosperity remain in the rural areas, Xi said, stressing efforts to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas and build county economies with county seats as hubs and small townships as junctions.

He also called for vigorously developing industries with distinctive features in light of local conditions, creating more channels for increasing farmers' incomes and ensuring that people would not slide back into poverty in large numbers.

Green development and ecologocial conservation

Efforts should be made to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of development patterns and enhance ecological conservation, Xi said.

He called for promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development, facilitating the green transformation of the energy industry while actively and prudently advancing carbon peaking and neutrality.

Work should be done to advocate green consumption and further promote the economical and intensive use of resources, Xi said.

He stressed the need to strictly implement the Yellow River Protection Law and related plans and strengthen ecological protection and restoration of the river basin to protect the Yellow River, known as the "mother river" of the Chinese nation.

On his way to Shaanxi, Xi inspected the city of Yuncheng in north China's Shanxi Province, where he visited a museum and a salt lake Tuesday afternoon.

At the Yuncheng Salt Lake, which has a history of over 4,600 years of exploitation, Xi noted that the ecological values and functions of the salt lake are increasingly important, urging coordinated efforts to protect and utilize it to further protect its historical and cultural values.

The ecological conservation and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin is a major strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and the Chinese civilization, Xi said.

He required provinces and regions along the Yellow River to uphold ecological conservation in the Yellow River basin as the bottom line in planning development and pursuing high-quality development.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers an important speech while hearing a report on the work of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee and the provincial government at a meeting in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, May 17, 2023. /Xinhua)