LANZHOU -- On the afternoon of September 12, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, chaired a symposium in Lanzhou, Gansu province on comprehensively promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin and delivered an important speech. He emphasized the need to earnestly implement the guiding principles from the 20th CPC National Congress and the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, firmly grasp the strategic requirements of prioritizing protection and governance, use further comprehensive reform as a driving force, adhere to ecological priority and green development, implement water-based planning and prioritize water conservation, adapt measures to local conditions and implement targeted policies, plan comprehensively and promote coordination, so as to promote new progress in ecological protection across the basin, green transformation, high-quality development, and improvement in the people's livelihood, opening new grounds for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.

Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, and Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, attended the symposium.

At the symposium, Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Hu Changsheng, secretary of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee, Zhao Yide, secretary of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee, and Lou Yangsheng, secretary of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee, delivered speeches in turn, reporting on the progress of promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin and offering opinions and suggestions. Leaders of other provincial-level regions attending the symposium submitted written speeches.

After listening to the speeches, Xi delivered an important speech. He pointed out that since the CPC Central Committee proposed the strategy for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, the ecological environment quality of the basin has steadily improved, water safety has been continuously strengthened, the foundation for energy and food security has been reinforced, and there have been many highlights in high-quality development. The ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin have reached a higher starting point. However, there are still many challenges that need to be further addressed.

Xi emphasized the need to continuously improve the holistic framework of ecological protection and collaboration in the Yellow River Basin and strengthen the national ecological security barrier. The approach to river governance should be more systematic, holistic, and coordinated, promoting the construction of an integrated ecological environment governance system for upstream and downstream, deeply implementing major projects for the protection and restoration of important ecosystems, and enhancing the stability of the basin's ecological system. It is necessary to strengthen the joint prevention and control of the "Three-North" (northern, northeastern, and northwestern) Shelterbelt Forest Program to enhance overall effectiveness. The comprehensive management of subsidence coal mining areas should be enhanced and new pathways for the transformation and development of resource-dependent regions should be actively explored. Progress in the fight against pollution should be made. The management of important tributaries and key lakes and reservoirs should be strengthened, and environmental infrastructure in river and lake areas should be improved. Xi urged efforts to enhance comprehensive air pollution control, accelerate the transformation to ultra-low emissions in key industries, and vigorously promote the clean and efficient use of coal. He called for efforts to implement legal regulations on "scattered, disorderly, and polluting" enterprises and effectively manage risk sources. He urged efforts to implement fiscal, tax, financial, investment, and pricing policies and standards to support green and low-carbon development. He called for efforts to improve the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products and explore the establishment of a basin-wide, market-oriented, and diversified ecological protection compensation mechanism.

Xi stressed the need to implement the strictest water resource protection and utilization systems to improve the level of water resource conservation and intensive use. He urged efforts to strictly adhere to the upper limits of water resource development and utilization, refine measures for determining city planning, land use, population, and production based on water availability, establish a total water use control system covering the entire basin, and scientifically allocate water resources of the Yellow River and its tributaries. He urged efforts to strengthen groundwater level management and increase efforts to address groundwater over-extraction in the middle and lower reaches. He called for efforts to enhance the protection of drinking water sources, steadily optimize and adjust the water distribution plan of 1987, and actively explore and standardize the advancement of water rights trading and fully implement the water resource fee-to-tax reform. He urged efforts to implement water-saving actions and accelerate the construction of a water-saving society.

Xi emphasized the need to improve the disaster prevention and mitigation system and keep the Yellow River harnessed. He urged efforts to improve the water-sand regulation mechanism and enhance the regulation system centered around major water conservancy projects such as key reservoirs, adhere to unified prevention and control of the Yellow River and its tributaries, advance the governance of key river sections and hazardous areas, and ensure the safety of important dikes, reservoirs, and infrastructure. He called for coordinated efforts to advance major water conservancy projects of the Yellow River, strengthen disaster monitoring and warning, and enhance emergency response coordination. He called for ramping up efforts to identify and eliminate risks, strengthen public communication and education on disaster prevention and mitigation, and conduct regular and practical joint drills.

Xi highlighted the need to push for a full transition to a green development model and to build a modern industrial system with distinctive advantages. He urged sparing no effort in ensuring the production of grain and important agricultural products, strengthening the support of agricultural sci-tech and equipment, developing appropriately scaled agricultural operations and promoting specialty and advantageous agriculture based on local conditions. He stressed building high-standard farmland that can withstand both droughts and floods, securing results in the comprehensive transformation and utilization of saline-alkali land and improving the quality of arable land. He urged optimizing the layout of major project construction to minimize the impact on surface runoff and groundwater. He called for vigorous efforts to develop green and low-carbon economy, orderly advance the planning and construction of large wind and solar power bases and power transmission corridors, and accelerate the substitution of clean energy for fossil fuels in key industries. He stressed efforts to beef up industrial technological innovation capabilities, promote upgrades for energy conservation and carbon reduction and equipment renewal in key industries, strengthen strategic emerging industries and advanced manufacturing clusters, and develop new quality productive forces based on local conditions. He stressed encouraging universities and research institutions in the region to plan and establish technology transfer and industrialization service mechanisms to enhance the coordination of the industrial and innovation chains.

Xi emphasized the need to comprehensively deepen reform and expand opening up to boost high-quality development, deeply participate in the development of a unified national market, resolutely break various forms of local protectionism, deepen the reform of state-owned assets and enterprises, and fully implement policies to promote the development and growth of the private economy. He called for developing a regional economic layout and a territorial space system characterized by complementarity between different regions and territorial spaces, with megacities pursuing connotative development and cities along the Yellow River focusing on enhancing population concentration and industrial coordination. He stressed improving major cross-provincial infrastructure systems in transportation, energy and water conservancy, advancing the construction of new infrastructure, strengthening coordination with other regional strategies, promoting the coordinated development of free trade pilot zones, actively participating in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and creating greater development opportunities through high-level opening up.

Xi said that it is necessary to coordinate the new urbanization and rural revitalization, and to steadily improve people's well-being. He urged guiding the coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and small towns, adopting an intensive and compact layout, enhancing the industrial and population carrying capacity of county towns, and alleviating the pressure on ecologically fragile areas. He called for better playing the role of county towns in connecting cities and driving rural development, and taking the lead in achieving integrated urban-rural development within the county. He stressed promoting the construction of villages on a categorized basis, and building a beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in. He stressed strengthening the inclusive, basic, and bottom-line protection of livelihoods. He urged giving prominence to employment, and said both urban industrial development and rural industrial cultivation should focus on expanding employment capacity. He stressed consolidating and expanding the achievements in poverty alleviation, and forestalling any large-scale relapse into poverty. He urged fully implementing the Party's major principles and policies for work on ethnic affairs in the new era, deepening the promotion of ethnic unity and progress, administering ethnic and religious affairs in accordance with the law, and forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.

Xi emphasized that the Yellow River Basin is a crucial birthplace of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization. Efforts should be made to protect and promote Yellow River culture, preserve historical and ethnic heritage, enhance the holistic and systematic protection of cultural and natural heritage, advance archaeological and other work, protect revolutionary culture resources, promote revolutionary culture, develop advanced socialist culture, fully tap the contemporary value of Yellow River culture, showcase the enterprising and tenacious spirit of the Chinese nation, integrate culture with tourism and build a Yellow River cultural tourism belt with international influence.

Xi pointed out that under the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Leading Group for Coordinated Regional Development should strengthen overall planning and guidance, relevant central departments should take the initiative and strengthen support, and the provincial and regional Party committees and governments along the Yellow River should assume primary responsibility, give full play to the initiative of all sectors of society, work together to perform the Yellow River Cantata of the new era, and make greater contributions to advancing Chinese modernization.

Xi emphasized that all regions and departments should earnestly implement the CPC Central Committee's economic work plans and major measures, focus on economic work for the rest of the third quarter as well as the fourth quarter, and strive to achieve the annual economic and social development goals.

Ding Xuexiang stated in his speech that the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and Xi's important speeches should be thoroughly studied and implemented. Ding called for adhering to ecological protection as a priority and green development, and continuously advancing the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin to new levels. He urged regarding well-coordinated environmental conservation as a key task, advancing environmental pollution control, and accelerating the construction of a solid and strong national ecological security barrier. He also called for carefully addressing the relationship between people and water resources, fully implementing the principle of planning urban development, land use, population, and production around water resources, and scientifically allocating water resources across the basin. He stressed leveraging respective comparative advantages based on functional zoning, enhancing industrial scientific and technological innovation capabilities, and developing new quality productive forces suited to local conditions. Ding also called for efforts in comprehensively deepening reform, better participating in the construction of a unified national market, and expanding the breadth and depth of both domestic and international opening up to inject strong impetus and vitality into ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin.

He Lifeng, Wu Zhenglong, Mu Hong and Jiang Xinzhi attended the symposium, and officials from relevant central departments and provincial-level regions also participated.