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March 11, 2016

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‘Treat environment like our lives’

Source: Shanghai Daily | March 11, 2016, Friday | Print Edition

PRESIDENT Xi Jinping has called for greater environmental protection, poverty relief and development in the country’s ethnic regions.

Xi made the remarks when he joined national lawmakers from the northwestern province of Qinghai in Beijing yesterday during the annual session of the National People’s Congress.

Xi listened as the lawmakers outlined their ideas for green development, medical reform, equal access to education, ethnic unity and targeted poverty relief.

He called on authorities to adopt an overall and long-term view on environmental protection and promote green lifestyles.

“We should protect the environment like protecting our eyes and treat the environment the way we treat our lives,” Xi said.

He urged concerted efforts to tackle poverty and ensure that people in need in rural regions are lifted out of poverty by 2020, the year when China’s 13th Five-Year Plan draws to a close.

Poverty relief should be targeted and have an emphasis on education to ensure the people do not return to poverty, he said.

Xi also said more efforts would be made to improve infrastructure in ethnic regions and develop industries with local characteristics and that are competitive, in order to enhance regional development.

Xi emphasized respecting ethnic differences and cultural diversity.

Also yesterday, Premier Li Keqiang urged all-out efforts to maintain ethnic unity and long-term stability through development in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Xinjiang is of strategic importance for the country’s overall situation, Li said when he took part in a discussion with national lawmakers from the northwestern region.

Xinjiang should push development to consolidate the foundation of lasting stability, optimize industrial structure, accelerate the development of agriculture, textiles and tourism, and enhance the proportion of non-resource industries in the regional economy, Li said.

Improving people’s livelihoods is the core task of the Xinjiang government, he said, and the central government will provide greater support for infrastructure needed for water conservation, electricity and transport.

He asked the authorities in Xinjiang to provide better employment, education and social insurance services while increasing incomes for people of all ethnic groups.

The region should continue to do its best to maintain ethnic solidarity, which he said was the “lifeline” of lasting peace and stability.

Meanwhile, in a panel discussion with lawmakers from southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli stressed the importance of governing Tibet according to the law and striving to make people richer and the region prosperous.

He urged Tibet to build a moderately prosperous society by 2020.

Tibet also needs to strengthen ethnic unity and maintain stability, he said.

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