Let the Yellow River become a happy river that benefits the people

Source: People's Daily - People's Daily

Success does not have to be in my spiritual realm and success must have my historical responsibility, and resolutely implement the key tasks of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin

Recently, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium on in-depth promotion of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin in Jinan City, Shandong Province, emphasizing the need to scientifically analyze the current situation of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, grasp the major issues of promoting the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, set goals, be down-to-earth, immerse yourself in hard work, and work hard for a long time to ensure that the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period achieve obvious results, and make unremitting efforts for the Yellow River to always benefit the Chinese nation.

The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation, which has given birth to an ancient and great Chinese civilization, and protecting the Yellow River is a great plan for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The Yellow River Basin is an important ecological security barrier in China, an important region for population activities and economic development, and plays a decisive strategic role in the overall situation of national development and socialist modernization. Not long ago, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Outline of the Yellow River Basin Ecological Protection and High-quality Development Plan", which made a comprehensive and systematic deployment of the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin from various aspects such as water resources, pollution prevention, industry, transportation, culture, and people's livelihood, and built the "four beams and eight pillars" for the protection and governance of the Yellow River.

To harness the Yellow River, the emphasis is on protection and governance. The Yellow River is one of the rivers with the highest sediment content, the most difficult to control and serious water damage in the world, and has always been weak and sickly, and frequent floods. At the source of the Three Rivers, the "Chinese Water Tower" was urged to be protected; in the depths of the Qinling Mountains, it was emphasized that the protection of the "Central Water Tower" was "the greatest of the country"; in Gansu, it was first proposed that "let the Yellow River become a happy river that benefits the people"... Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has taken the protection of the Yellow River as a major event in governing the country, and has repeatedly inspected the ecological protection and economic and social development of the Yellow River Basin. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has focused on the overall situation of ecological civilization construction, clarified the water management idea of "water conservation priority, spatial balance, systematic governance, and two-handed force", elevated the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin to a major national strategy, and promoted the governance of the Yellow River and the economic and social development of the Yellow River Basin. The planning outline issued this time clarifies the overall requirements for promoting the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and puts forward a number of key tasks such as strengthening the conservation and intensive utilization of water resources in the whole basin, which will surely effectively promote the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

Ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin is a major system project, involving a wide area and a large population, especially we need to run the system concept through the whole process of ecological protection and high-quality development. The Yellow River Basin connects Kunlun in the west, Yinshan in the north, Qinling Mountains in the south, and the Bohai Sea in the east, and the Yellow River flows through 9 provinces and regions such as Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu, spanning the east, central and western regions, with a total length of 5464 kilometers. Such a large span and such a long distance also objectively require us to highlight the overall situation, integrity and synergy, jointly grasp the great protection, and coordinate the promotion of the great governance. "Strengthen upstream water conservation capacity building", "strengthen midstream water and soil conservation", "promote downstream wetland protection and ecological governance"... The key tasks proposed in the planning outline are based on the integrity of the whole basin and ecosystem, and also focus on the specific reality of the different natural conditions in different areas of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin, and the implementation of these tasks will help the upstream, middle and lower reaches of the region to form a synergy and better promote the governance of ecological environmental protection.

Adhering to ecological priority and green development is not to avoid development, but to firmly follow the road of green and sustainable high-quality development. The planning outline clearly states that closely combined with the comparative advantages and development stages of the Yellow River Basin, the regional economic and productive forces layout should be optimized and adjusted on the premise of ecological protection, and the rational division of labor in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the region should be promoted. For example, we will support the construction of grain production core areas in the main grain-producing areas such as the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, the Fenwei Plain, and the Hetao Irrigation Area; focus on areas with strong industrial bases along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and build a strategic emerging industry cooperation platform with effective docking of production and supply, coordination between the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the industry, and close connection between the supply chain of the industrial chain innovation chain, and so on. Taking ecological protection as the premise and giving full play to comparative advantages, suitable water is water, suitable mountains are mountains, suitable grain is grain, suitable agriculture is agriculture, suitable work is industry, suitable business is business, and all areas along the Yellow River will certainly be able to explore a new path of high-quality development with regional characteristics.

Promoting ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin requires long-term efforts. "We cannot be satisfied with the achievements we have made, we must adhere to the problem-oriented, redouble our efforts, and unswervingly do a good job in all work." On the afternoon of the 22nd, in the face of the responsible comrades of the relevant departments of the 9 provinces, autonomous regions, central and state organs along the Huanghuang province who came to participate in the forum, General Secretary Xi Jinping said with a heavy heart. Maintaining historical patience and strategic determination, with the achievements not necessarily in my spiritual realm and the achievements must have my historical responsibility, resolutely implement the key tasks of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, we will certainly be able to ensure that the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period achieve obvious results, so that the Yellow River will become a happy river that benefits the people.

People's Daily ( 05/11/2021)