An important policy doc issued on China's Ecological Civilization construction
A very important policy document has been released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council. The title is put as “The Guidelines to Comprehensively Promote the Development of a Beautiful China." It was issued on December 27, 2023.
The guideline cover the period of 2021-2035. It emphasizes four “stick-to”, which means four principles. They are “all-fields transformation”, “all-round improvement”, “all-region construction” and “whole society actions”. With these for “all”s, you could see how “comprehensive” it is:)
Besides, the guideline also draws a blueprint for China’s ecological civilization construction in the next decade. The blueprint covers 8 aspects as the following:
1. Accelerate the green transformation of development methods. There are some goals set :
— By 2035, the retention rate of mainland’s natural coastlines will not be less than 35%, and the ecological functions of the ecological protection red line will not be reduced or their nature will be changed;
— By 2035, the proportion of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption will be further increased, and a more effective, dynamic and internationally influential carbon market will be built;
— By 2027, new energy vehicles will account for 45% of new cars, old diesel locomotives will be basically phased out, and container rail-water transport volume at ports will maintain rapid growth; by 2035, railway freight turnover will account for 25% of the total turnover;
— By 2035, energy and water resource utilization efficiency will reach the internationally advanced level.
2. Continue to in-depth promote pollution prevention and control.
3. Improve ecosystem diversity, stability and sustainability.
4. Keep the bottom line of safety in building a beautiful China. There are some details of the safety standards in this sections.
5. Create some model regions, cities, villages and other examples for building a beautiful China.
6. Carry out nationwide actions to build a beautiful China.
7. Improve the guarantee system for building a beautiful China. The guarantee system include systematical guarantee, policy guarantee, technological and digital methods, focusing on major projects and global coordination and cooperation.
8. Strengthen the CCP’s overall leadership. That means all-level party leaders and comrades will try their bests to implement the guideline and work hard for ecological civilization.
I was asked recently what means “Beautiful China.” As a Chinese who paid attention to China’s ecological civilization transformation for more than a decade, to my understanding, “Beautiful China” is a symbolic expression of the ideal environmental and social development which means Chinese people are in harmony with the nature and among each other. I have to admit that there are some people think the phrase focusing mainly on environmental protection. But how can a country be beautiful if social relations are ugly?
I put the link of Xinhua News Agency’s English report on the document and the Chinese version of the doc bellow. Your comments and questions are welcome.
Xinhua report: https://english.www.gov.cn/policies/latestreleases/202401/11/content_WS659feb78c6d0868f4e8e2f86.html
Original Chinese version of the guideline
https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/202401/content_6925405.htm