Delegates of foreign political parties take photos with local residents at the Qinghai Lake in Qinghai province. ZHAO JUN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
 

Oct. 5, 2023 -- The environmental transformation of Qinghai leaves foreign delegates in awe.

 

It was a sight pleasing to his eyes and soothing to his soul. Their yellowish brown coat with a white underside contrasted with the lush green of the grassland. Indeed they were a sight to behold against the backdrop of the strikingly blue waters of Qinghai Lake in Qinghai province.

 

Ibrahim Al-Hadid, a Syrian national, felt warm and comfortable despite the chilly autumn day; the source of his comfort and warmth being the relatively small, slender antelopes, Procapra przewalskii.

 

Easily recognizable by the heart-shaped white patch on its rump and more commonly known as Przewalski's gazelle, Procapra przewalskii is a species of highland antelope native to China, and now found only around the Qinghai Lake, China's largest lake in terms of surface area and classified as an alkaline salt lake.

 

Przewalski's gazelles were once "critically endangered", and had been put on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. Considering the huge loss of biodiversity that would inevitably follow the extinction of the Przewalski's gazelle, China set up the country's first protection station in Qinghai in 2004, in order to prevent the species from extinction by safeguarding its habitat and food sources to increase its number.

 

As a result, the number of Przewalski's gazelles has increased from about 300 in 1994 to more than 3,400 at present. The antelope is now categorized "endangered" on the IUCN Red List.

 

"It is a remarkable achievement. It epitomizes China's increasing efforts in ecological conservation," said Al-Hadid, who is the secretary of the Aleppo University Branch of Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party of Syria. Under the Communist Party of China's leadership, China has not only realized unprecedented economic development but has also been protecting the environment and ecology, thus achieving harmony between humanity and nature.

Shankar Pokhrel (second from right), general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), leads a delegation of the party to visit the Xining Cultural Center in Xining, Qinghai province on sep 12. ZHAO JUN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
 

"We share views similar to the CPC's in this regard," Al-Hadid said, noting that all other countries including Syria can learn from China's successful experience of promoting development while protecting the environment and conserving biodiversity and the ecology.

 

Al-Hadid is one of more than 150 representatives of political parties from about 30 countries who visited Qinghai recently. The representatives got a chance to experience firsthand the province's achievements in fields such as clean energy, rural revitalization and biodiversity conservation at high altitude.

 

Hu Zhaoming, a spokesman for the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, said that with the CPC's exchanges with foreign political parties gradually gathering pace since the lifting of the COVID-19 prevention and control measures, foreign party delegates are eager to learn more about China's socioeconomic development and the Party's internal governance.

 

"By visiting China in person, delegates of foreign political parties gain confidence in China's development process and the Party, as well as their own countries' cooperation with China," Hu said. Many of the delegates, according to Hu, said that in an era of interwoven changes and challenges, China is a partner they can rely on.

 

Rajan Bhattarai, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and head of the CPN (UML)'s Foreign Affairs Department, too, was part of the delegation that visited Qinghai. In fact, he has been visiting China since 1993.

 

"I have witnessed tremendous changes inside China and one remarkable thing that China has achieved under the leadership of CPC is the eradication of poverty. It is the first time in human history that such a large number of people have been lifted out of poverty within such a short period of time," he said.

Members of a political party's delegation from Azerbaijan admire the panoramic view of a photovoltaic plant. ZHAO JUN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
 

For Bhattarai, the biggest change, compared with his previous trip to China in 2018, is that the country has become "greener" thanks to effective pollution control and better environmental protection. "For example," he said, "in Qinghai, alternative, clean energy is being used to improve the environment."

 

As Qinghai endeavors to build itself into a national ecological conservation highland, it is vigorously transforming its rich natural resources such as wind, sunlight and water into sources of economic benefits. In Gonghe county of Qinghai's Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, for example, there is a solar photovoltaic industrial park with the largest PV power generation capacity in the world. The park can generate 10 billion kWh of electricity a year on average.

 

Standing on a watchtower in the park and taking in the spectacular view, Jamoliddin Meliboev, vice-chairman of the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen of the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, marveled at the vast expanse of solar panels glittering in the sunlight.

 

The panels cover more than 300 square kilometers in an area that once faced intense desertification but is now covered with grass. "I was deeply impressed by how the local government has developed the PV industry without bringing harm to the environment; it has even helped improve the ecology," he said.

 

The installment of the solar panels has helped reduce the average wind speed in the park by about 40 percent, and increased the moisture in the soil 20 centimeters below the surface by nearly 30 percent.

 

Moreover, herdsmen living nearby are allowed to graze their sheep among the PV panels, which saves the park the trouble of making arrangements for manual weeding. It's an arrangement that benefits both the park and herdsmen.

 

"When I return to Uzbekistan, I will share my observations on this trip with the authorities and work to promote cooperation between my country and China in ecological conservation and other areas," Meliboev said.

 

A member of the Azerbaijani political delegation holds a painting of a Przewalski's gazelle. ZHAO JUN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE
 

In October last year, the CPC successfully held its 20th National Congress and unveiled its blueprint for building a modern socialist China by following the "Chinese path to modernization". The report CPC Central Committee General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered to the 20th Party Congress categorically states that harmony between humanity and nature is an integral part of the Chinese path to modernization.

 

"Humanity and nature make up a community of life. If we extract from nature without limit or inflict damage on it, we are bound to face its retaliation. We will protect nature and the environment as we do our own lives," Xi said in the report.

 

Rana Ali Qaisar Khan, executive member of the Central Standing Committee of the National Party of Pakistan, said that given the ecological challenges, the world has no choice but to become a community with a shared future. "No country can prosper alone. Only through cooperation can we effectively address global environmental issues such as climate change, ocean pollution and biodiversity conservation, and achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals by 2030," Khan said.

 

According to Khan, China pursues common development by balancing its own interests and the common interests of humanity, so as to realize shared prosperity across the world.

 

Christophe Lavernhe, who is a founding member of the French party Solidarité et Progrès (Solidarity and Progress), said he was optimistic about China's modernization benefiting the rest of the worldjust as the Belt and Road initiative has done in the past decade. Noting that the Belt and Road Initiative has benefited European countries including France, through projects such as the China-Europe freight railway, Lavernhe said he believes European countries would benefit more from this universal idea.

 

"We have entered a new world where we have to choose whether we want to get on the train of development or just look at the train leaving, the platform with China already sitting in the first carriage," he said.