China News Service, October 19. Title: The upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are advancing and retreating together. Xi Jinping emphasized that "all will suffer if one suffers, and all will prosper if one suffers".
With a total length of more than 6,300 kilometers, the Yangtze River flows from west to east, connecting various places along it like an axis, and all places drink from the same river.
In April 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping made an in-depth inspection of Yichang, Jingzhou, Yueyang, Wuhan and other places. During the visit, he emphasized that "the upper, middle and lower reaches will advance and retreat together, one will suffer, and one will prosper."
In the past ten years, when it comes to the Yangtze River, the concept of "joint efforts to protect and not engage in large-scale development" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Inter-provincial consultation, ecological governance, whole-region joint construction, and development sharing have witnessed the changes in the Yangtze River.
The word "community" is at the forefront, so we can't each take charge of our own affairs or restrain each other.
In the past, the management of large rivers often faced the problem of "water management in nine dragons and each one doing its own thing". There is a lack of overall promotion of ecological and environmental protection, resulting in difficulty in forming synergies and low efficiency.
In April 2018, at a symposium on in-depth promotion of the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the General Secretary mentioned a material about the Jialing River.
The Jialing River is an important tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and an important drinking water source for more than 10 cities in Sichuan and Chongqing. The ecological barrier strategy is of great significance. However, after more than 30 years of development, a large number of mining and smelting companies have been deployed in the upper reaches of the Jialing River, forming more than 200 tailings ponds, posing a huge threat to the ecology along the river.
Some cities located at the dividing point between the upper and middle reaches of the Jialing River report that although they insist on giving priority to ecology and step up prevention and control, they still suffer from imported pollution that is difficult to prevent. The safety of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people in urban areas and towns along the river is frequently threatened.
At that meeting, the General Secretary used this to emphasize the importance of “thinking about the overall situation” in the ecological and environmental protection and restoration of the Yangtze River.
Over the past ten years, joint governance has become a consensus in the Yangtze River Basin - the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission and the provincial river chief offices in the basin have established a Yangtze River Basin River and Lake Chief Cooperation Mechanism; Sichuan and Chongqing have jointly promoted the construction of the "Six Rivers" ecological corridors such as the Yangtze River, Jialing River, and Fujiang River; three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta have launched major projects for comprehensive management of Taihu Lake and water environment... The proportion of excellent water quality in the Yangtze River Economic Zone has increased from 67% to 96.5%, revitalizing it.
The word "community" is at the forefront, which means that each party should display its strengths and develop in a coordinated manner.
The Yangtze River Economic Belt spans the east, middle and west of my country, and regional development conditions vary greatly.
General Secretary Xi Jinping once pointed out that in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, "the problem of unbalanced and uncoordinated development in the basin is prominent", "regional cooperation is more ineffective than actual, urban agglomerations lack coordination, and the driving force is insufficient."
He emphasized that in terms of industrial development, the provinces and cities along the Yangtze River should not only show their respective advantages, but also develop in a coordinated, dislocated, and linked manner.
Over the years, from the strategic cooperation between the three major port logistics groups in the Yangtze River Basin, to the opening of the Wuyi Section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Rongjiang High-speed Railway and the Hangzhou-Quzhou High-speed Railway, to the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community, the Optics Valley Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, and the Northern Anhui Industry Transfer Cluster, a number of cross-border areas have taken the lead in achieving integration breakthroughs. The regional integration of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has been significantly improved, and regional synergy and linkage have been continuously strengthened.
In October 2023, at a symposium on further promoting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt held in Nanchang, Jiangxi, the General Secretary asked responsible comrades from 11 provinces and cities how long it took them to get to Nanchang.
What used to be a long journey over mountains and rivers now only takes two or three hours. The general secretary said: "The convenient transportation between you shows that the construction achievements have been remarkable in recent years."
At this meeting, the General Secretary requested to “further promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and better support and serve Chinese-style modernization.”
As the saying goes, if people unite, Mount Tai will move.
The ten-year span of the Yangtze River Economic Belt cannot be separated from the joint consultation, joint governance, joint construction and sharing of various places along the route. In the future, the word "communism" will still be the key to promoting high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
