President Xi Jinping calls for protecting the ecological system while pursuing green development.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, and Han Zheng, visited a voluntary tree planting site on the bank of a river in Fengtai District of Beijing on April 3, 2025, and Xi helps plant a tree during the voluntary tree planting activity.
A review of history reminds us of the dear price paid in the pursuit of development at the expense of the environment. China, too, has faced this reality when cities like Beijing once struggled with severe air pollution and hazardous PM2.5 levels. Today, the return of blue skies is a clear sign of China’s shift toward a more sustainable growth model.
On April 23, 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his speech to the Leaders Meeting on Climate and the Just Transition, “Harmony between man and nature is a defining feature of Chinese modernization. China is a steadfast actor and major contributor in promoting global green development.”
As he stated, over the years, China has not only pursued its own green development but has also shared its experience with other countries.
Ecological Protection
Xi has long championed ecological protection as a core priority. While working in Zhejiang Province as Party secretary, he proposed the idea of “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” on August 15, 2005, which later became a guiding principle for China’s development. In 2023, that day was declared as National Ecology Day.
When China celebrated its first National Ecology Day, Xi emphasized that ecological conservation is of vital importance for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, describing it as a major political issue that concerns the mission and purpose of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and a major social issue of importance to public well-being.
Xi’s words have been followed with concrete actions as he has set an example by personally planting trees in many springs. On April 3, 2025, Xi attended a voluntary tree planting activity in Beijing. There, he pointed out that China’s ecological environment has continued to improve, with the public experiencing the most direct and tangible benefits.
Local governments have followed suit. Located in southwest China, Yunnan Province is home to diverse ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests and alpine meadows. It also hosts the source or upper reaches of major rivers such as the Yangtze River, Pearl River, and Lancang River. With its abundant ecological resources and critical position as a key water source for China and Southeast Asia, Yunnan plays a vital role in maintaining regional, national, and even global ecological security.
Official data show, currently, there are 134 species of rare and endangered plants in the tropical rainforests of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province. Through the establishment of nature reserves, the forest ecosystem in Xishuangbanna has been effectively protected, leading to an increase in the populations of representative rare and endangered species such as the Asian elephant.
In March 2025, Xi paid an inspection trip to Yunnan Province. He pointed out the province’s important ecological role and urged the local government to resolutely pursue a green development path that prioritizes ecological conservation to cement the ecological security barrier in southwest China.
Progress has also been achieved nationwide. In June 2024, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the 2023 Report on the State of the Ecology and Environment in China. The report summarized that China’s ecological and environmental governance has continued to make progress, and the overall ecological and environmental quality has also kept improving steadily.
One notable example is that the proportion of days with excellent and good air quality was 85.5 percent, and the figure was 86.8 percent after deducting the days with abnormally high dust levels – 0.6 percentage points higher than the annual target.
Mingxing, the world’s largest multi-purpose heavy-lift vessel, departs from Nantong City of east China’s Jiangsu Province for Chile with 12 sets of complete wind power equipment on board on July 14, 2023.
Green Development
China views ecological protection not as a constraint on development, but as a driver of it. In July 2023, while attending the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, Xi pointed out the relationship between high-quality development and high-level protection, saying that development plans must be made on the basis of a harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature and that high-level environmental protection can help China continuously create new driving forces and new strengths for development.
On January 31, 2024, presiding over the 11th group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on making solid progress in promoting high-quality development, Xi stressed that green development underlies high-quality development, calling for upholding the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and unswervingly following the path to prioritizing ecological protection and pursuing green development.
One example of ensuring both is to promote ecological tourism. Northwest China’s Qinghai Province boasts abundant natural resources, including Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in China. However, due to climate change and human activities, the ecological well-being of the Qinghai Lake basin once saw deterioration: water levels continued to decline, and the desertification of land kept expanding.
In April 2022, China approved the establishment of the Qinghai Lake National Park. Since then, it has advanced the integrated protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, which have received a total of RMB 177 million in investment for wetland protection and restoration as well as ecological protection and restoration of key water areas.
Such efforts have improved the ecological condition of Qinghai Lake. Data from last September shows that the area under water of Qinghai Lake continued to expand, reaching 4,650.08 square kilometers. This has also resulted in an increase in biodiversity in the region.
The improved environment has contributed to the province becoming a hot tourist destination, fueling economic growth as a result. In 2024, it received 53 million tourist visits, generating a total tourism revenue of RMB 51.6 billion, with a year-on-year growth of over 20 percent in both figures.
On June 19, 2024, during his inspection trip to Qinghai Province, Xi called for the province to always put ecology first and pursue green development. He said that Qinghai should remain committed to deepening reform and expanding opening-up, uphold ecological priority and green development, and promote ethnic unity and common prosperity, adding that greater progress must be made in advancing ecological protection and high-quality development of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.
In other fields, China’s efforts to promote green development have also achieved remarkable results. As Xi summarized, China has built the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system as well as the largest and most complete new energy industrial chain. It also leads the world in the speed and scale of “greening,” contributing a quarter of the world’s newly added afforested area.
International Cooperation
China’s green efforts extend beyond its borders. In his speech at the Leaders Meeting on Climate and the Just Transition, Xi called for deepened international cooperation, saying that we should rise above estrangement and conflict with openness and inclusiveness, boost technological innovation and industrial transformation through cooperation, and facilitate the free flow of quality green technologies and products so that they can be accessible, affordable, and beneficial for all countries, especially the developing ones.
In July 2024, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development, which urges strengthening international cooperation on green transformation, including participating in leading the global green transformation process and strengthening policy exchanges and practical cooperation.
According to the BRI Green Development Outlook, released by the BRI International Green Development Coalition in November 2024, as the world’s leading manufacturer of climate-friendly technologies, China provides 50 percent of the world’s wind power equipment and 80 percent of solar PV components. In 2023, China’s exports of wind and solar products helped other countries reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 810 million tons. China is also collaborating on green energy projects with over 100 countries and regions.
Maya Majueran, director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka, said that China not only emphasizes its own green development but also engages in green cooperation with partner countries under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Through concrete actions, China demonstrates its irreplaceable leadership, which inspires island nations like Sri Lanka that are vulnerable to climate change.
In November 2024, Xi expressed China’s willingness to continue such efforts when addressing the APEC CEO Summit, promising that China will stay firmly on the path of green development and continue to be an important force for global green transition.
As the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement approaches, Xi’s call for harmony between humanity and nature resonates more strongly than ever. Under his guidance, China is not only advancing its own ecological civilization but also illuminating the path for a global green future, one of shared responsibility, mutual benefit, and sustainable prosperity for all. 
