Aerial photo taken in 2023 shows the cloud sea in She county, east China's Anhui province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

Edited by TANG Zhexiao

China has unveiled a guideline to comprehensively promote the building of a "Beautiful China," detailing specific targets for the country's green and high-quality growth.

The guideline said China will accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system supported by the real economy, by vigorously boosting the development of emerging strategic industries, high-tech industries, green and environmental industries and modern service industries.

According to the guideline, the country's ecological environment is targeted to be healthy and beautiful by the middle of the century, its ecological and environmental governance system and capacity will be fully modernized, and a "Beautiful China" will be built in all respects.

Building a beautiful China

Former UN under-secretary-general and former executive director of the UN Environment Programme Erik Solheim thought the initiative of building a beautiful China is "so positive" and "inspires people."

"There is an enormous positive change in China, and it's a wonderful transformation,” said Solheim, adding that creating a beautiful China has been a main driver for fighting pollution and climate change.

Work needs to be done to strive to realize a carbon peak by 2030 and lay a foundation for working hard to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, the guideline noted.

China has established the world's largest clean power generation system currently, with the world's largest installed capacity of hydropower, wind and solar power.

As The Guardian reports, China is on track to break its wind and solar goals five years ahead of schedule.

Driven by China's rapid growth, renewable energy capacity surged globally in 2023, generating green power faster than at any time during the last few decades.

China was the major driving force behind the world's rapid expansion of renewable power generation capacity last year, which grew by 50 percent to 510 gigawatts, the International Energy Agency said.

Promoting global development

These remarkable achievements China has made in ecological civilization construction have inspired the world, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to building a global ecological civilization construction and supporting developing countries in this process.

Bradley Blankenship, a Prague-based American journalist, columnist and political commentator, hailed China's success in beautifying Beijing, saying that Beijing now stands as an example for megacities around the globe, particularly those in the global south.

The concept of a "Beautiful China" has a universal appeal, extending to a Beautiful World, according to Blankenship.

Besides establishing a South-South cooperation fund on climate change and the Kunming Biodiversity Fund, China also undertook nine projects to boost Africa's green development.

As most of Africa's energy currently comes from firewood and fossil fuels, China has prioritized clean energy in its cooperation with African countries.

According to former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the China-financed Garissa Solar plant puts Kenya on the path to achieving green energy sufficiency and adds to Kenya's rich profile as the center of green energy generation in Africa.

China-Africa cooperation in clean energy development is part of China's commitment to greening the continent, said Melaku Mulualem, senior international relations and diplomacy researcher at Ethiopia's Institute of Strategic Affairs.

Earth is the only planet that humanity calls home, and therefore protecting the ecological environment and promoting sustainable development are responsibilities shared by all countries.