This Decade of China, Anhui Press Conference

On July 20, the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held a press conference on the theme of "This Decade of China, Anhui" in Hefei. Zheng Shanjie, Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress made a theme announcement and answered questions from reporters. Deputy Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Governor Wang Qingxian, Deputy Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee Cheng Lihua, and Member of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Vice Governor Zhang Hongwen answered relevant questions. Spokesperson of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, Member of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, and Chief of the Publicity Department of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee Guo Qiang presided over the event.

Zheng Shanjie said in the theme announcement that Anhui is a hot spot for the Chinese revolution, an important source of rural reform, and a high ground for scientific and technological innovation. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited Anhui twice, sent congratulatory letters three times, and replied cordially once, drawing a blueprint and guiding the course for Anhui's development. We wholeheartedly support the "Two Establishments" (for the Party to establish the status of Comrade Xi Jinping as the core of the Party's Central Committee and the whole Party and to establish the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era) and faithfully practice the "Two Upholds" (uphold the General Secretary's core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and uphold the CPC Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership), thoroughly implement the instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches on his inspection of Anhui. We will be loyal and diligent and strive to achieve remarkable results in promoting the construction of a modern and beautiful Anhui.

In the past ten years, Anhui's GDP has surpassed the 2 trillion yuan, 3 trillion yuan, and 4 trillion yuan marks successively. The 10-year increment exceeds the total sum of the 62-year increments from the founding of new China to 2011. Anhui's GDP last year was nearly 4.3 trillion yuan, the per capita GDP exceeded 10,000 US dollars; the total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 2 trillion yuan; the total import and export volume exceeded 100 billion US dollars, and the per capita disposable income of residents exceeded 30,000 yuan, achieving a leapfrog development from the middle to the top of GDP, and from the back to the middle of GDP per capita; a leapfrog development of a major science and education province to the source of scientific and technological innovation; a leapfrog development of the traditional agricultural province to the gathering place of emerging industries; a leapfrog development from an inland province to a new high ground of reform and opening up.

Using dazzling data, vivid examples, and practical measures, Zheng Shanjie detailed the achievements of various works in Anhui since the 18th CPC National Congress. He says,

In the past ten years, we have kept in mind the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping to "gain advantages by innovation" and accelerate the construction of an innovative Anhui with a strong economy. Innovative achievements continued to emerge; the comprehensive national science center of the first batch and the first national laboratory were established in Anhui; 12 large-scale scientific facilities were laid out, the number ranks among the top in the country; Quantum satellite "Micius," Beijing-Shanghai quantum communication trunk line, quantum computers Zu Chongzhi and Jiuzhang, "artificial sun," Haisi 1 satellite and so on are all national treasures that gained great reputation all over the world.

Technological innovation has continued to make breakthroughs; the number of invention patents per 10,000 population has increased by nearly 15 times; technological innovation and industrial development in the fields such as quantum communication, dynamic memory chips (DRAM), new material alumics (nano-ceramic aluminum alloy), ultra-thin glass are leading or co-leading the world. Industrial innovation has accelerated in the direction of high quality; agriculture was strengthened by technology and machinery; the manufacturing industry has improved quality, expanded capacity, and increased efficiency; the service industry forges its strengths and complements its weaknesses in an all-round way; the grain output ranks fourth in the country; the added value of the manufacturing industry and the digital economy has exceeded 1 trillion yuan; 10% of the world's notebook computers and 20% of LCD screens are produced in Anhui. For every 3 refrigerators, 4 washing machines, and 5 air conditioners in the country, 1 is made in Anhui.

There are many achievements in institutional innovation. The mechanism of chief scientist, fund contract system, personnel establishment turnover pool, science and technology resource market, and transformation mechanism of scientific and technological achievements are sound and perfect; nearly 8 new national-level high-tech enterprises are added every day; the scientific and technological innovation "tree planting project" has continuously improved Anhui's innovation ecology.

In the past decade, we have kept in mind the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping to "strengthen regional coordinated development and complementary advantages" and accelerate the construction of a new Anhui, where urban and rural areas develop together. The integration of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui has been accelerated, and "the Beauty of Anhui Tourism" and "the Good Taste of Anhui" have attracted "people from the Yangtze River Delta" one after another. Last year in Anhui, among the projects invested by Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang with a scale of more than 100 million yuan, the actual funds in place were close to 1 trillion yuan.

The development of the whole province is united like strands of a rope. The GDP of Hefei exceeds one trillion yuan, and the GDP of the six cities in northern Anhui all exceed one hundred billion yuan; urban and rural areas develop coordinately, with central villages of the beautiful rural area covering more than 70% of administrative villages; more than 8 million agricultural population have become urban residents. A network of infrastructure has been built; all the county towns in Anhui will be able to reach the expressway in 15 minutes; the 5G network has achieved continuous coverage in the main urban areas of provincially administered municipalities, and a high-speed rail travel zone connecting large and medium-sized cities across the country has been established.

In the past ten years, we have kept in mind the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping "to protect the mountains and waters well" and accelerated the construction of a beautiful Anhui with an excellent environment. The "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" strategy has been solidly advanced; the victories of protecting our blue skies and defending our rivers and soil from pollution have been consolidated; four ecological corridors have been built in the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Xin'an River, and the Jianghuai Canal; the concentration of fine particles, the ratio of days with good air quality, and the ratio of fairly clean water quality (Grade I to III) under the national monitoring program for surface water have all reached the best level since monitoring records; the forest coverage rate exceeds 30%; the Oriental White Stork, the national treasure of birds, reappears in Chaohu Lake, and the Yangtze finless porpoise, a national treasure in the water, reappears in the Wanjiang River.

In the past ten years, we have kept in mind the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping to "solidly promote reform and opening up" and accelerate the construction of an open and vibrant Anhui. In terms of reform, it has shown a new vibrancy. More than 1,300 reform measures have been launched at the provincial level; Reform terms such as ecological compensation, forest chief system, the trusteeship system for agricultural production, and urban lifeline were launched nationwide. The provincial government transparency of Anhui ranks third in the country; the provincial administrative power is the least in the country, and more than 3,000 market entities were added per day. In terms of opening up, a new pattern has emerged. Pilot Free Trade Zones and Comprehensive Bonded Zones link the world; the World Manufacturing Conference and the World Display Industry Conference show the image of Anhui; the economic and trade "friend list" covers 97% of the world's countries and regions; one out of every five cars exported nationwide is made in Anhui, and "buy from the world, sell to the world" has become a major trend in Anhui's opening up.

In the past ten years, we have kept in mind the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping to "make efforts to meet people's living needs and promote social development" and accelerated the construction of a happy Anhui where the people are prosperous. 4.84 million poor people were lifted out of poverty and lived a moderately prosperous life; the average number of years of education for residents has increased by more than one year; the number of hospitals has increased by 76%; the per capita sports venue area has doubled; the average life expectancy has increased by more than 2 years; the income gap between urban and rural residents has dropped to 2.34 times; the "Safe Construction" of Anhui has been listed in the advanced national ranks for 10 consecutive years. This year, we insist on doing practical things for the people; we allocated 15 billion yuan to implement 10 "heart warming" actions and invested a total of 20 billion yuan in implementing the water diversion project for the masses in northern Anhui so that the government's "work" can accurately match the masses' "expectations," and to guarantee the life quality of 70 million people in Anhui and make them richer and more secure.

In the past ten years, we have kept in mind the important exposition of General Secretary Xi Jinping that "the political construction of the Party is the fundamental construction of the Party" and further promoted the full and rigorous governance over the Party. We have strengthened the political construction of the new provincial Party committee; deployed and improved the work style; done practical work for the people, and worked for the enterprise to optimize the environment; We have successively carried out the activities of "visiting thousands of enterprises in the Spring Festival, helping to solve problems," "optimizing the environment and stabilizing the economy," and promoted the system to ensure officials do not dare to be, are not able to be, and do not want to be corrupt; led the party members and cadres in the province to make them keep in mind their original aspiration and mission, and dare to take responsibility and act bravely. In today's Anhui, the political environment is constantly improving, the economic environment keeps a momentum of stable growth, and the social environment is stable and orderly.

Zheng Shanjie said that looking back on the road traveled, the changes in Anhui in the past ten years have confirmed the historical achievements of the Party and the country's cause and historical changes from the perspective of a province; looking forward to the road of forging ahead, we must always uphold the great banner of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and deeply understand the decisive significance of the "Two Establishments," do a solid job in Anhui, keep up with the General Secretary, forge ahead in the new journey, and take practical actions to greet the successful convocation of the 20th Party Congress.

The conference's theme was "Sincerely support the 'Two Establishments' and faithfully practice the 'Two Upholds." The press conference was attended by 16 domestic and foreign media, including People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, China Media Group, and Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group. Media reporters asked questions about topics such as implementing the national strategy for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, promoting the work of "One Improvement and Two Actions" (Improve the working style, do practical things for the people, and optimize the environment for enterprises), creating a gathering place for emerging industries, implementing the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" strategy, implementing ten heart-warming actions, ensuring China's food security, creating a source of scientific and technological innovation, and the development of high-tech industries.

Zheng Shanjie, Wang Qingxian, Cheng Lihua, and Zhang Hongwen answered these questions one by one and introduced in detail the relevant situation of Anhui's in-depth implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech and instructions and the implementation of the decisions and plans of the Central Committee since the 18th CPC National Congress; the spiritual outlook of party organizations at all levels and party members, cadres and the masses to forge ahead and strive gratefully; the remarkable achievements in various undertakings in the new era, and the vivid practice of continuous working in the new journey.

reported by Zhu Shengli

translated by Zheng Chen