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Countries need to foster synergy in restoring #biodiversity
By #HeYin

May 22 marked this year's International Day for Biological Diversity. Themed "We're part of the solution," it called on the international society to work in solidarity and contribute wisdom and efforts to biodiversity conservation.

Biodiversity provides the very basis for the human race to survive and thrive, and serves as the root and lifeblood for building a shared future for all life on earth.

As the extinction of species quickens, the declining of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation are posing major threats on humankind's existence and development. As a result, human beings must protect biodiversity with even fiercer determination and actions and build a community of life for man and nature.

China has always made biodiversity protection an important part of ecological progress as well as a focal point for advancing high-quality growth. Biodiversity conservation has been gradually incorporated into various kinds of plans and programs in the country.

China has formulated and implemented the China National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2011-2030) and rolled out more than 10 laws and regulations related to biodiversity.

By the end of 2018, China had identified 11,800 protected areas, which accounted for more than 18 percent of China's land mass, achieving ahead of schedule one of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which calls for at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas to be conserved through well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2020.

The increasing numbers of snow leopards in Sanjiangyuan on the Tibetan Plateau that contains the headwaters of the Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong Rivers, the multiplication of giant pandas in Qinling Mountains, as well as the Taishan willows springing up in Taishan Mountain, all indicate the outstanding performance of China in biodiversity protection.

China has steadily advanced major projects for ecological protection and restoration. From 2009 to 2019, the country planted 70.39 million hectares of forests, the largest increase in forest resources among all countries during the period.

Through unremitting efforts, China has put into effective protection 90 percent of terrestrial ecosystem types and 85 percent of key wildlife populations.

Building a beautiful China has increasingly become a consensus among the Chinese people, and will also contribute to building a beautiful world of harmony among all beings on the planet.

As a major participant in, contributor to, and champion of world biodiversity conservation, China has involved itself deeply in international exchanges and cooperation in this field.

In September 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the UN Summit on Biodiversity, in which he made four proposals for turning the earth into a beautiful homeland for all creatures to live in harmony out of a sense of responsibility for the entire human civilization.

The Chinese leader stressed the concept of respecting nature, following its laws, and protecting it, and offered Chinese solutions and wisdom for man and nature living in harmony.

China has taken seriously its obligations under environment-related international treaties, established the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition with international partners, carried out exchanges and cooperation in environmental protection with over 100 countries, and implemented an array of cooperation projects for biodiversity conservation.

China's efforts and contributions have been acknowledged by the international community. Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, believes that China's stewardship in climate action and efforts to restore biodiversity will inject vitality into the global green agenda.

The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is scheduled to be held in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province, under the theme of “Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth” in October this year.

The meeting will review and take a final decision on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, thus pointing the way to global biodiversity conservation.

As the host country of COP15, China is happy to share with all parties its experience of advancing biodiversity conservation and governance, jointly mapping out a blueprint for restoring biodiversity.

As an ancient Chinese philosopher said, "Heaven and earth were born at the same time I was, and the ten thousand things are one with me."

Global biodiversity conservation still has a long way to go, and countries share the same boat along the way. As long as they work in solidarity and foster a synergy in protecting biodiversity, they can build and enjoy a beautiful homeland for all creatures to live in harmony.

#CPC offers very important development experiences for human society: #Turkish political party leader
(By Wang Chuanbao, Wu Gang, People's Daily)

"Reviewing the development and changes of China , which I personally witnessed, is like watching a documentary. Every stage and scene are astonishing," said Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey's Patriotic Party in a recent interview with People's Daily.
The Turkish politician, who has made 13 visits to China during the past four decades, said the 100-year history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is a splendid history of heroic stories and legends.

He noted that the epic jointly written by the CPC and the Chinese people has explored a development path from which the human society can draw wisdom from, and set an example for global political parties.

Perincek is a renowned Turkish politician. In 1978, he co-founded the Workers' and Peasants' Party of Turkey and then served as a high-ranking official of the Socialist Party and the Workers' Party of Turkey in the following days. Six years ago, he took up the post as the chairman of the Patriotic Party, which has maintained long-term friendly exchanges with the CPC.

According to him, the book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China is placed at a conspicuous position in the library of the Patriotic Party.
"I've read through it. The book creatively answers a series of important questions concerning the development of China and the world in the present age, and presents the advanced governance experiences of the CPC to the world," Perincek said.

The CPC has a firm resolution and capability to lead the Chinese people to build the socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said, adding that there is no precedent of such undertaking, and the CPC must learn through its practices.

The CPC has always started from China's realities, and been solving the problems it encounters in an innovative manner, which is a valuable treasure, he said.

"The CPC has a bright future. It has offered very important development experiences for the human society," he told People's Daily.

In recent years, Perincek has been introducing his visits to China, as well as his profound understanding of the country's development path, on a special column he has established on local newspaper Aydinlik. To respond to the lies related to China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region fabricated by some Western media outlets and politicians, he would introduce what he saw and felt there and sends his voice out through multiple channels.

"Xinjiang has made huge achievements, not only in economic and social development. I saw local cultures well protected when I visited the autonomous regions' Turpan, Kashgar and Ili. Apart from mandarin, minority languages are also taught there," he said.
He also hailed the outstanding outcomes of Xinjiang's fight against terrorism and extremism. Calling terrorism a common enemy of all human beings, he said the international society needs to reinforce cooperation and jointly fight it.

Facing the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese people united together, and controlled the virus within a short period of Time and achieved rapid economic recovery. Perincek praised China's epidemic control effects, saying the fight against the virus mirrored the CPC's governance philosophy and capability.

The CPC has always placed people's lives and health at the first place, which is crucial for the country to win the fight, he said, adding that China has also made remarkable contributions to international anti-pandemic cooperation by its timely assistance for relevant countries.

China's poverty reduction is a sector that particularly attracts Perincek's attention. He said it is a great historic achievement of human development for a country with 1.4 billion people to get rid of poverty. It not only contributes to global poverty reduction, but also ignites a hope for poverty alleviation for all mankind, he added.

During the interview, the Turkish politician recalled his attendance to the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting in Beijing four years ago. At the opening ceremony of the meeting, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC and Chinese President, delivered a keynote speech, in which he stressed that all the political parties should move with the tide of the times, gain a keen appreciation of the underlying trend of human progress, and meet people's common aspirations. They should also aim high and look far, and fulfill their responsibilities, Xi added.

Xi also noted that the destiny and future of each and every nation and country are interlocked, and political parties play an important role in the progress of human civilization. "What he said was of historic significance," Perincek said.

"The CPC treats other political parties equally and sincerely, which is admirable," he noted, praising the CPC's efforts to actively advancing its exchanges with other political parties around the world.

"As a political party that has the highest number of members in the world, the CPC never forces its positions on other political parties. On the contrary, it encourages them to select their own paths according to their national conditions. That's an important enlightenment we acquired from our exchanges with the CPC," Perincek said.

#Tibet witnesses historic changes over past seven decades
(By Yang Hao, People’s Daily)

The Chinese central government allocated a total investment of 1.63 trillion yuan ($253 billion) in the past 70 years since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, said Wu Yingjie, secretary of Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The southwestern autonomous region also received a total of 69.3 billion yuan of funds from other provincial and municipal governments in recent years, Wu said at a press conference on the economic and social development of Tibet on May 22.

Over 590 billion yuan of the total investment were put into the construction of major projects that have greatly driven the region’s economic development, including the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Lhasa Kongga International Airport and Zangmu Dam.

Tibet was once a contiguous poor area that suffered the highest poverty headcount ratio, the deepest poverty, as well as the highest cost and difficulties in poverty reduction. Through targeted measures and assistance, the autonomous region has lifted all 628,000 of the registered poor people out of poverty and delisted 74 county-level areas from the poverty list.

The average per capita disposal income of rural residents stood at 14,598 yuan last year, up 12.7 percent year on year and maintaining double-digit growth for 18 consecutive years, Wu introduced.

Qizhala, chairman of the regional government noted that during the 13th Five-year plan period (2016-2020), the central government planned an investment of 380.7 billion yuan for Tibet, but the actual amount put into place reached 393.7 billion yuan. The massive investment has led to a giant leap forward in infrastructure construction and people's livelihood, he added.

For the next five years, he said, investment poured into Tibet will grow with a fairly large margin from the previous period, with focus on ecological development, people's wellbeing, social governance and construction of the border areas, he introduced.

Tibet takes education development as a priority. A modern education system was gradually put in place that covers preschool, basic, vocational, higher, continuing and special education. The right to receive education is fully enjoyed by all the ethnic peoples of Tibet.

Currently, Tibet has 3,195 schools of various types, where 880,000 students are receiving education, Qizhala said, adding that the gross enrollment rates of preschools and primary schools have reached 87 percent and 99.9 percent, respectively. The retention rate of nine-year compulsory education was 95 percent, he said.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, a financial aid system that covers from preschool to higher education has been established in Tibet. China adopts a "three guarantees" policy that provides food, accommodation and school expenses for children of farmers and herdsmen. So far, over 18 billion yuan of aid has been offered to over 11 million students. Besides, the autonomous region has also rolled out 40 policies to help the students.

Since 2012, Tibet has made steady progress in medical and health services, sharing synchronous development with the rest of the country and protecting the health rights of all people in Tibet. The development of medical and health services in Tibet has been accelerated, and a healthcare service network that covers five administrative levels has been built. Medical workers from renowned hospitals across China have been selected to support Tibet, and hospitals have been paired up for assistance. At present, there are three national-level health centers, one university, and 19 enterprises of Tibetan medicine and therapies.

Practices prove that without the CPC, there would be no new China, let alone a new socialist Tibet, Wu said. Only by adhering to the leadership of the CPC, the socialism with Chinese characteristics and regional ethnic autonomy can Tibet secure a prosperous present and a brighter future, he noted.