President Jiang Zemin called for suiting measures to local conditions in doing all kinds of work and protecting ecological environment when seeking economic development.

Jiang, general secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), made the remarks Monday while participating in panel discussions of Hainan and Qinghai deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC). To develop Hainan, the country's largest special economic zone, has been an unfulfilled wish of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, according to the president. He called Hainan a treasure island and urged local people to properly utilize its natural resources and carefully protect its ecological environment.

"Protection of the ecological environment is an important issue that has a direct bearing on the interests of the state and people, and on whether or not we can have sustainable economic development and on the well-being of our offspring," he said.

As a special economic zone, Hainan should take the lead not only in reform, opening to the outside world and economic development but also in nurturing high ethical standards among the people, he said.

Referring to Qinghai, a province in the underdeveloped western part of the country, Jiang urged speeding up the development of vast, resources-rich western regions. These areas should accelerate the building of infrastructure and give priority to developing education and science and technology with the assistance of the state, he said.

Again he called for protecting the ecological environment. " Soil erosion should be stemmed by reconverting farm fields into either forest land or grassland," he said. Programs to reconvert farm fields into forest land or grassland need to be carried out in a planned manner and the will of the local people must be respected, he stressed.

The government's strategy to accelerate the development of western regions has produced good opportunities to the local people, Jiang noted. Leading officials at all levels must emancipate their mind, update their thinking, work hard and seek practical results, he said.