BEIJING -- General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, participated in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Beijing on the morning of March 30. During the event, Xi emphasized that a sound ecological environment is shared by all and requires the joint efforts of all. He called for mobilizing the whole society to take part in afforestation, so as to add splendor to the landscape and enhance the ecological foundation of Chinese modernization.

Gentle spring breezes swept across Beijing, the capital of China. At around 10:40 am, Xi and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi, came by bus to Baishan Township in Changping District, where they joined officials and residents in a voluntary tree-planting activity.

The tree-planting site is a planned park site, which, once completed, will provide residents with a green leisure space.

Seeing the general secretary's arrival, officials and residents who were planting trees greeted him warmly. Xi waved back, picked up a shovel and walked to the planting site, where he joined leading officials from Beijing and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, along with other officials, residents, and Young Pioneers.

Swinging the shovel to dig and turn the soil, building up earth around the saplings, and carrying water for irrigation, Xi planted multiple saplings in succession, including the Chinese pine, Beijing peony, flowering plum, tu-chung tree, and shantung maple. During the process, he chatted with young students about their studies, daily lives, physical exercises, and participation in tree planting. Xi emphasized that young people, like saplings, are full of vitality and hope. They should set lofty aspirations from an early age, nurture the love for knowledge, for work, and for nature, seek a well-rounded development in terms of moral grounding, intellectual and physical ability, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills, and strive to become pillars of the nation. The atmosphere was warm and lively.

Xi held cordial talks with officials and residents on site. He said that since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has achieved continued "double increases" in both forest coverage and stock volume, while seeing continued "double decreases" in both desertified and sandy lands. China has contributed the most to global greening and achieved the fastest growth in this regard. Clear skies, lush lands and lucid waters have become the norm in China.

Not long ago, China promulgated the Ecological and Environmental Code to further solidify the legal foundation for building a Beautiful China. Noting that tree planting is an important task in this endeavor, Xi called for sustained commitment, focusing on immediate priorities while looking beyond the horizon, and building on past progress to steadily advance this cause that benefits both the country and the people.

Xi stressed that this year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period and the 45th anniversary of the nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign. To advance afforestation under the new circumstances, it is imperative to place greater emphasis on improving quality, boosting industries and benefiting the people. It is essential to ensure that planting and management go hand in hand, ecology and industry reinforce each other, and humanity and nature co-exist in harmony.

It is necessary to ensure coordinated use of green space, tailor afforestation to land and water conditions, expand green coverage in ways suited to local conditions, and plant trees where suitable and grass where appropriate, said Xi.

Greater efforts are urged to strengthen management and protection, carry out sustainable forest management by region and category, advance grassland protection and restoration effectively, improve the quality and functions of forests and grasslands comprehensively, and prevent fires and pests to better protect greening achievements. Work should be done to smooth the channels for realizing the value of ecological products, expand the forestry and grassland industries, and enhance their economic value and ecological benefits simultaneously, Xi said. It is also important to promote urban and rural greening and beautification in a coordinated manner, and make full use of available space to increase green areas accessible to the people, so as to give both urban and rural residents a greater sense of gain from a greener environment, he added.

Also participating in the tree-planting activity were other members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and state councilors currently in Beijing.