Aerial photo taken on May 17, 2021 shows the scenery of Mount Wuyi in southeast China's Fujian Province. Photo: Xinhua

The National Event on the Environment Day 2022 was held on Sunday, June 5 in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to extend his warm congratulations.

In the letter, Xi said that natural environment is the basis of human survival and development, and to preserve a sound ecological environment is the shared aspiration of the peoples of all countries. Since the Party's 18th National Congress in 2012, we have made ecological conservation an initiative vital for sustaining the Chinese nation's development. Embracing the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, we have launched a host of creative, forward-looking, and fundamentally important initiatives and taken major steps toward building a beautiful China. As a result, our ecological and environmental protection efforts have seen sweeping, historic, and transformative changes.

Xi stressed that on the new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects, the whole Party and the entire nation must maintain strategic focus on strengthening ecological conservation, endeavor to effect a green transformation in all aspects of social and economic development, coordinate efforts to address pollution, protect ecosystems, and respond to climate change, and work hard to build a beautiful China where humanity and nature exist in harmony, so as to make further contributions to building a clean and beautiful world. He also expressed the hopes that all of society can take the initiative to act as role models in disseminating and practicing the ideas of ecological civilization and through solid and hard work, create a beautiful homeland with blue skies, green lands, and clean waters for generations to come.

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, read out Xi's congratulatory letter and delivered a speech. He said General Secretary Xi sending the letter fully demonstrates that the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the national event on the Environment Day.

Han said earth is the only home mankind has, and it is the common responsibility of all humans to build a clean and beautiful world featuring harmony between humanity and nature. Since the Party's 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core has placed ecological progress in a prominent position in the overall agenda of its work and contributed to historic, watershed changes in China's efforts to promote ecological and environmental protection. On the new journey toward a modern socialist country in all respects, we must take Xi Jinping's thinking on promoting ecological progress as our guide, fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy, and work even faster to build a beautiful China, Han said.

Han stressed that we should uphold the notion of a shared future for humanity and nature, continue the holistic approach to the conservation and restoration of mountain, river, forest, farmland, lake, grassland, and desert ecosystems, establish and strictly enforce red lines for ecological conservation, and strive to pursue modernization that is characterized by harmony between humanity and nature. We should stay problem-oriented, step up the efforts to prevent and control pollution, and persistently address prominent ecological and environmental problems that directly affect the people. We should raise public awareness of ecological conservation and translate the idea of building a beautiful China into conscious actions of every individual. We should promote high-quality economic development through high-standard environmental protection, advance a complete transformation toward greener economic and social development, and thus achieve coordinated progress in both environmental protection and economic growth. We should steadily and orderly work for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, we should ensure energy and food security and maintain secure industrial and supply chains, so that people's everyday lives are not seriously affected. We should continue to rally strength for global ecological progress and actively promote sustainable development across the world so that the ideas and practice of ecological civilization will benefit people worldwide.

Before the event, Han visited an exhibition themed "Work Together to Build a Clean and Beautiful World."

Since 2017, China has held national events on the Environment Day annually. This year's event was jointly organized by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the office of the Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress, and the Liaoning Provincial People's Government, with the theme of "Work Together to Build a Clean and Beautiful World."