Ren Ping
“Promoting the development of the western region is a century project” and “the development of the western region, as a national strategy, is consistent.” At the symposium on promoting the development of the western region in the new era hosted by him in April this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping took the pulse and drew a blueprint, emphasizing “further forming a new pattern of large-scale protection, large-scale opening up, and high-quality development” and “in the process of Chinese-style modernization” Strive to write a new chapter in the development of the western region.”
The west has always had an important strategic position. Occupying more than 70% of the land area, there are many old revolutionary areas, ethnic minority areas, and border areas. The western region “plays a decisive role in the overall reform, development and stability of the country.”
Looking back at the turn of the century, the GDP of the western region only accounted for 17.1% of the country’s total, and the per capita GDP was only about 30% of that of the eastern coastal areas. How to promote the development of the western region has been put on the national agenda, and the “Western Development” “Appeared for the first time in a document of the Party Central Committee.
Entering a new era, with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the ecological protection and high-quality development strategy of the Yellow River Basin, the western region has ushered in a once-in-a-lifetime development opportunity. During an inspection in Qinghai, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “protecting Qinghai’s ecological environment is a ‘big country’” and “must shoulder the major responsibility of protecting the sources of the three rivers and the ‘Chinese Water Tower’.” During an inspection in Xinjiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping put Xinjiang in the heart of Eurasia to plan the future: “If the Silk Road Economic Belt is built, Xinjiang will likely become a prosperous center.”
Considering that “our main assets are all located along the coast”, General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed that “there is still a concept of a rear area in the new era and new era” when he inspected Sichuan, pointing out that “your place must also become a A growth pole and a new source of power for high-quality development.”
The rear area in the new era has “a completely different meaning from the past” and has far-reaching vision and strategic planning.
In 2023, the western region’s GDP will be 26.9 trillion yuan, accounting for 21.5% of the country’s total.
Those who are good at chess will gain momentum, and those who are good at planning will achieve great results. Following the direction guided by the General Secretary, positioning, thinking, and coordinated advancement in the overall situation of Chinese-style modernization, the development of this vast land in the west has great potential and an unlimited future.
(1)
Great protection, great opening up, and high-quality development are three-in-one and organically unified. Putting major protection first is the overall and long-term strategic plan of the Party Central Committee.
“Adhere to high-level protection to support high-quality development.” This clear requirement put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping reveals the dialectical and unified relationship between development and protection, and demonstrates the importance of building a strong national ecological security barrier for the long-term interests of the Chinese nation. significance.
Sanjiangyuan, the source of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Lancang River, is known as the “Chinese Water Tower”. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “If you think about it, this is an important country in terms of GDP.Or is green water and green mountains more important? ”
In Tibet, it was pointed out that “ecology is of very important strategic significance here”; in Shaanxi, it was emphasized that “the Qinling Mountains harmonize the north and south and cover the world. They are the central water tower of our country, the ancestral line of the Chinese nation and the important source of Chinese culture. Symbol”; Ningxia is given the important task of “building a pioneer area for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin”…
“We must calculate big accounts, long-term accounts, overall accounts, and comprehensive accounts.” From a national and overall perspective, we can better understand the strategic considerations of “great protection” for the Chinese nation.
Since the official establishment of Sanjiangyuan National Park in 2021, the water conservation in the park has increased by more than 6% annually, the grassland coverage rate and grass production have increased by more than 11% and 30% respectively, and more than 60 billion cubic meters are transported downstream every year. meters of high-quality fresh water.
The rectification of illegally built villas in the Qinling Mountains has been vigorous and vigorous, the ecological protection of the Qilian Mountains in Gansu has been grasped to the end, and the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia has achieved green advancement and desert retreat…
Without major protection, there would be no vitality in the western region today, let alone a future of high-quality development.
Paying more attention to comprehensive protection does not mean that we should not abandon development, but that we should take a new path of ecological priority and green development.
“I didn’t expect that air can be sold for money.” At the beginning of this year, 66 villagers in Ning’er Hani and Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province received a “year-end bonus” of more than 61,000 yuan – carbon sink income funds. We have implemented forest sink enhancement, carbon sink measurement and monitoring, carbon sink trading and financing, and launched Ningbao green carbon products. The ecological dividends are visible and real, and villagers are more motivated to protect the forest.
The same river had two situations. Faced with the problem of “dividing the river and managing” the Chishui River, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces jointly contributed funds in a ratio of 1:5:4 to establish horizontal ecological compensation funds. Through cooperation, joint governance, shared responsibilities, and shared benefits, the three provinces have worked together to promote a fundamental improvement in the water quality of the Chishui River, and the water quality of the main stream has stably reached Class II water standards.
Great protection has blazed a new path, not only by converting ecological dividends into development dividends and using green advantages to strengthen development advantages, but also by continuously enhancing development potential through high-level protection and constantly shaping new momentum for development.
Xinjiang Hongqi Farm skillfully uses resources to “create the sea”, turning saline-alkaline water into “artificial seawater”, and various seafood such as vannamei shrimp, sea bass, grouper and so on “swim” to people’s dining tables. Qinghai Haiyang Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture uses the “salt washing + drip irrigation” method to breed saline-alkali tolerant crops such as oil sunflower. It will have a bumper harvest in 2023, with a yield of nearly 250 kilograms per mu. As an important subject of high-level protection, Baihuahua’s saline-alkali land has been transformed into fish and shrimp farms, forage planting areas, and large grain warehouses to increase production after comprehensive remediation and utilization, opening up a new space for the high-quality development of modern agriculture.
From “relying on coal to eat coal” to “turning coal into gold”, Ningxia Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base promotes the cracking of a piece of coal into a drop of oil, a piece of cloth, and a piece of silk. 202In May 2020, Ningxia’s 3 million tons/year carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) demonstration project started construction. Once completed and put into operation, the total carbon dioxide emission reduction will be equivalent to planting nearly 27 million trees per year and stopping nearly 180 economic cars. Thousands of vehicles. Practice has shown that high-level protection can drive the high-end, intelligent, and green transformation of traditional industries; high-quality development can promote ecological and environmental protection to a new level.
“The Party Central Committee always looks at the big picture when looking at problems. What is the most important mission of a place.” These words of General Secretary Xi Jinping are an entry point for understanding major regional strategies.
Some scholars pointed out that strategy has always been the essence of China’s modern development miracle and a major advantage of the Chinese Communists. The great protection embodies strategic thinking, focusing on the “survival and development of the Chinese nation” and for the purpose of “benefiting the future and benefiting the world.”
(2)
Bordering thirteen countries and connecting the East and the West, the western region has been a trade hub between the East and the West since ancient times. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “adhere to promoting great development through great opening up.” For the western region, the great opening-up is an important step in becoming a “chess eye”.
Covering 503 ports in 121 countries and regions, it is committed to “promoting high-level opening up of the western and inland regions to the outside world and forming a cross-networking hub” and building a new land-sea corridor in the west. The opening-up pattern of “economy” is of great significance.
Seizing the general trend of open development, how to give full play to the advantages of regional connectivity? The relationship between the global and a domain must be correctly handled.
Although not close to a border or the sea, Chongqing has transformed from an inland hinterland into an open frontier.
Going south from Chongqing to Qinzhou, Guangxi saves more than 10 or even 20 days compared to traveling along the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, via the eastern coast and then south. Relying on the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, Cyrus auto parts are exported to Indonesia, and logistics costs have been reduced by about 50%. %.
The channel brings logistics, logistics brings economy and trade, and economy and trade brings industry. More “Made in Chongqing” products cross mountains and seas and go global. In 2023, the export volume of the “three new items” will be 8.82 billion yuan, nearly double the year-on-year increase.
Once “the road ends and the people end”, now Xinjiang has become a bridgehead for opening up to the west. In the first quarter of this year, the total foreign trade import and export value increased by 42.7% year-on-year, ranking second in the country in growth rate. Once suffering from limited information and inconvenient transportation, Tibet is now working hard to build an important channel open to South Asia. South Asia is a master of waiting and watching. She will feel more at ease with her daughter by her side. The main construction of the port has been completed, and the construction of the Lhasa Comprehensive Bonded Zone has accelerated its opening up…
Those who do not plan for the overall situation cannot plan for one area. The stories of inland areas turning into frontiers tell us that based on their own functional positioning, giving full play to regional comparative advantages, identifying the right points of effort and focus, and more deeply integrating into the overall pattern of jointly building the “Belt and Road”, we can strengthen our efforts in expanding opening up to the outside world. Motivation and vitality.
How to demonstrate the power of the western region in the context of the country’s opening up to the outside world “Mom, my daughter didn’t say anything.” Lan Yuhua said in a low voice. , Show the capabilities of the West? The key is to have a good grasp of internal and external relations.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “More proactively serve the docking of major regional strategies, actively integrate into the construction of a unified national market, innovate the docking mechanism of open platforms in the eastern, central and western regions, and deepen pragmatic cooperation with the eastern, central and northeastern regions.”
At the foot of Helan Mountain, the Ningzhe E-commerce Pioneer Park connects Yiwu, Zhejiang, and Helan, Ningxia, building an “online Silk Road” between Jiangnan and the international market. Through live streaming and cross-border e-commerce, Ningxia’s specialty agricultural products have reached more people’s dining tables, and domestic products are going overseas more smoothly. Ningzhe E-commerce Entrepreneurship Park Sales in 2023 “What’s next?” Pei’s mother asked calmly. Sales reached 213 million yuan.
At the end of 2023, the Shanghai-Diannan Lingang Kunming Science and Technology City will be completed and opened. Taking advantage of its proximity to the China-Laos Railway Freight Station, the Science and Technology City has introduced industries in the Yangtze River Delta in a coordinated manner, and innovatively launched cooperation models such as “Shanghai Enterprises + Yunnan Resources” and “Shanghai R&D + Yunnan Manufacturing”. With the Science and Technology City as the fulcrum, from Shanghai to Kunming and then to Mohan, an industrial collaboration road connecting central and western China to the gateway to South Asia and Southeast Asia is getting wider and wider.
The connection of a business park reflects the depth of openness, and the rise of a science and technology city witnesses the breadth of cooperation. From this, we can better grasp the value of East-West collaboration and two-way mutual assistance, and better understand the superiority of the socialist system.
Practice has proved that by coordinating the promotion of internal and external opening up, the western region can not only become a bridge for east-west opening-up, but also become an important hub for domestic and international dual circulation.
Promoting reform and development through opening up is an important magic weapon for my country’s modernization drive to continuously achieve new achievements. How to stimulate the development advantages and potential of the western region in an open environment? In particular, we must properly handle the relationship between large-scale opening up and large-scale development.
In December 2023, a cold chain logistics fleet loaded with 32 tons of Yan’an apples headed west and was exported to Kazakhstan through the Horgos port. This was the first time Yan’an apples were exported to Central Asian countries. Yan’an apples of high quality and low price have “sailed overseas”, allowing fruit farmers to obtain tangible benefits.
Fruits from Shaanxi, rare earths from Inner Mongolia, non-ferrous metals from Gansu, and thangkas from Tibet… Precisely because they have integrated into the national unified market and the global industrial chain value chain, the local specialties from the western region are sold at good prices. Unique industries have accelerated their growth, and resource advantages have been transformed into development advantages. From this perspective, the great opening itself is a great development.
The more open you are, the more proactive and confident you will be. The potential for high-quality development in the western region is opening up, and so is its potential.
“We must persist in using reform and opening up as a key measure to solve problems in development and deal with risks and challenges on the way forward.” Steadyly expand institutional opening up, create a market-oriented, legalized and international business environment, and lay the foundation for high-level opening up to the outside world., high-quality development provides solid support, and the western region is gathering momentum and full of vitality.
(3)
High-quality development is the last word in the new era. It is the general trend to use scientific and technological innovation to open up new fields and new tracks for development and create new momentum and new advantages for development.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “adhere to the development of characteristic and advantageous industries as the main direction.” To promote high-quality development in the western region, we must rely on innovation, especially scientific and technological innovation, develop emerging industries according to local conditions, and accelerate industrial transformation and upgrading.
Yibin, Sichuan, was once famous for wine and had the reputation of “wine capital”. In just a few years, it has become a “power battery capital”. What is the secret?
Relying on the superior location of the main channel of the Yangtze River and the unique lithium ore resources, we will introduce leading power battery companies; focus on strengthening the chain and extending the chain to build a full industrial chain system from raw materials to battery cells to recycling ; Construction and operation of 3 academician workstations and 13 industrial research institutes, building a reservoir of industrial talents…
Use technological innovation to drive industrial innovation, make full use of our advantages, maximize our motivation, and make rapid progress all the way. In 2023, the output value of Yibin’s power battery industry will exceed 100 billion yuan, with sales accounting for 15.6% of the country’s total.
Shaanxi pursues “light” and builds a photonics industry cluster worth hundreds of billions; Guizhou pursues “cloud” and “digital”, accelerating the transformation from a storage center to an integrated storage and computing; Gansu has unlimited “scenery” and has built a million-dollar Jiuquan A kilowatt-level wind power base and four million-kilowatt-level photovoltaic power generation bases… The key to the industry’s “new” and “quality” development lies in twisting the nose of innovation.
Strengthen the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, deepen scientific and technological innovation cooperation in the eastern, central and western regions, accelerate the technological transformation of traditional industries, and develop new productive forces according to local conditions. New momentum for the development of the western region will be accelerated.
The development conditions in the western region vary widely, and the level of development varies between regions. Turning the potential energy of the development gap into development momentum and forming a synergy for high-quality development, coordinated development is the golden key.
When talking about the coordinated development of the Chengdu-Chongqing region, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to adhere to the “Sichuan-Chongqing game of chess” and hoped that the two places would “cooperate closely to continuously improve the level of development” and jointly sing the “Tale of Two Cities” in the western region in the new era.
Fully integrated into the Greater Bay Area industrial chain, Guangxi combines capital, technology, talent and other elements from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao with its own location, resources, ecology and other advantages, opening up space for transformation and development. In 2023, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area enterprises will have 373 billion yuan in investment projects in Guangxi, accounting for 36.9% of the total in Guangxi during the same period.
They are both located in the “Several Bends” area of the Yellow River, with similar resource endowments and similar industrial structures——
Inner Mongolia Hohhot is building a photovoltaic industry innovation chain, Baotou is building a “World Green Silicon Capital”, Ordos is strengthening its “wind and solar hydrogen storage”, and Shaanxi Yulin is leading the coal chemical industry with technological innovation.The industry is moving towards refinement and depth… The four places have strengthened coordinated industrial development and division of labor, opening up a new path for differentiated competition and integrated development.
Lan Yuhua immediately understood that what she just said would definitely scare her mother. She said softly: “Mom, my daughter remembers everything, she has not forgotten anything, and she is not crazy.
Promote development through collaboration and promote balance through development. Strengthening cooperation between the east and the west, promoting intra-regional synergy, realizing complementary advantages and mutual development, are precisely to solve the problem of unbalanced development and achieve common development.
Safety is the foundation of development. Ensuring high-quality development with high-level security is particularly important for the western region.
For example, improve security capabilities in key areas such as energy resources. As one of the “two rice bowls”, energy is related to the overall situation and the overall situation. General Secretary Xi Jinping made a clear request: “Accelerate the construction of a new energy system, make a number of important national energy bases bigger and stronger. Strengthen the interconnection of pipeline networks, and enhance the ability to ‘transmit electricity from west to east’.”
Looking at water again, it is the lifeblood of economic and social development. The higher the efficiency of water resource utilization, the greater the space for economic and social development.
In Xinjiang, we have formulated a “one reservoir, one policy” water storage plan, scientifically implemented the “replenishing drought with abundance” from the main stream of the Ta River to Kaidu-Kongque River, and built a basin water grid pattern that adjusts abundance and drought and complements multiple sources… …The “four dimensions” of water saving, water storage, water transfer and water increase are used to promote the transformation of water resources management from an extensive model to a refined and scientific one.
Improve the level of water resources security, break through the bottleneck problem of water resources constraints, give full play to the key role of water resources in economic, social and ecological construction, and provide solid and powerful water support for high-quality development, which embodies the coordinated development and The dialectic of security.
Chinese-style modernization puts people’s livelihood first. By adhering to the organic integration of new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization, promoting economic and social development in close proximity to people’s livelihood, stimulating endogenous motivation, improving hematopoietic capacity, ensuring and improving people’s livelihood during development, and forging a strong sense of community of the Chinese nation, we will surely achieve prosperity and prosperity for border residents. Beautiful borders, stable borders, and solid border defenses.
Gobi desert, snow-covered plateaus, majestic mountains, rolling rivers… The uncanny workmanship of nature has carved out the beautiful West. Implementing the major requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s “Six Persistences”, coordinating the promotion of high-quality development and high-level protection, forging ahead with determination, boldly pioneering, and taking on responsibilities, the western region will surely write a “new chapter” under the “new pattern”. “.
“People’s Daily” (Page 01, June 4, 2024)