We begin in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where President Xi Jinping has called for protection of the environment as an essential part of developing the Yangtze River Economic Belt. He makes this remark at a conference after inspecting the management of the environment and construction work along the Yangtze River this week.

A major speech on the reform of China's development.

But first, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Yichang city. His first stop on Tuesday morning is the new materials industrial park belonging to the Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group on the banks of the Yangtze River.

This is China's leading company in the production of phosphates and a big energy consumer. But it's in the process of transferring its focus to new materials.

And that's improved the company's market competitiveness and reduced pollution in the Yangtze River.

President Xi stressed the need to protect nature.

XI JINPING CHINESE PRESIDENT "The first priority in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is to promote environmental protection and get rid of excessive development projects. Economic growth along the river requires scientific and orderly development. The Yangtze is a mother river of the Chinese nation. We cannot pursue growth by damaging the environment."

On Tuesday afternoon, the Chinese president visited the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang.

The world's largest hydropower project was completed in 2006.

It has 32 hydropower generators, a five-tier ship lock and a shiplift.

Speaking to engineers working there, the Chinese president called for more innovation.

XI JINPING CHINESE PRESIDENT "China must master the core technology of high-end equipment. It must rely on its own efforts to improve innovation."

On Wednesday morning, President Xi boarded a ship at Jingzhou city in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

During his inspection, he emphasized the need to restore the environment along the River.

He said the most urgent task now is to halt unregulated development projects, limit the discharge of pollutants and crack down on illegal activities that damage the ecology on the banks of the river.

After two days of inspection, President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting in Wuhan city on the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

He called for enhanced reform and innovation, strategic coordination and planning.

And he called for all-out efforts to protect the Yangtze River, saying there should be no large-scale development of the river.

The president said that the key to developing the economic belt, lies in properly dealing with the relationship between overall advances and making breakthroughs in key areas, between environmental protection and economic development, between making an overall plan and making unremitting efforts, between elimination of old-growth engines and cultivating new ones, and between developing individually and developing in a coordinated way.

President Xi says all of these are for achieving high-quality economic growth in the belt. CGTN.