Environment Tops Economic StrategyProtecting the environment while developing the economy, will be a top priority for the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.At the 2000 Urumqi Economic Relations and Trade Fair, Ablait Abdureshit, the region's governor, listed the regional government's future priorities. He said he would push for faster economic and social growth in Xinjiang, one of the 12 provinces and autonomous regions in western China now the target for rapid economic development, but would also protect the environment. "Environment and ecology protection is an important part in the development of the western regions,'' said Wang Lequan, the region's Party secretary. "We cannot develop the economy at the expense of the local environment.'' He said the eco-system in Xinjiang was so fragile that it would be very difficult to recover if it was damaged. Water is the life of Xinjiang and to preserve sources the region has stopped logging in the Altay and Tianshan mountain ranges, which supply the region's 18 million people. The Tarim River, regarded as an important waterway by Xinjiang people, has been low due to excessive extraction from its upper and middle reaches and from the lack of river management, officials said. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, 40,000 hectares of poplar woods at the source of the river died as a result of drought and the lowering of underground water levels. Wang Lequan said the region was conducting detailed studies on a number of projects designed to replenish the Tarim River and rebuild the natural environment at the river's source. "It will take time because these will be major projects that we cannot afford to be careless,'' he said. Apart from environmental protection, Ablait Abdureshit said the region's development strategy included continuing to tap its rich natural resources and upgrading its scientific and technology base. It also wants to strengthen the region's infrastructure and promote the economic, agricultural and animal husbandry sectors, the governor said. The region will further enhance its scientific and educational capabilities to train more people in the push for prosperity, he added. Plans have also been drafted to further open the regions's doors for co-operation and trade with inland areas as well as nearby countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan, said Ablait Abdureshit. Xinjiang is ready to turn itself into a major international trade centre, linking the more developed east of China and other countries with the developing west. |
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