On the afternoon of April 23, General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired a symposium in Chongqing on promoting the large-scale development of the western region in the new era, stressing the need to consistently implement the Party Central Committee's policies and measures for advancing western development and to further foster a new pattern of greater protection, greater openness and high-quality development.

This was the first special symposium convened by General Secretary Xi Jinping on this regional strategy since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Why is promoting large-scale development of the western region so important?

"Pivotal" — the General Secretary used this word to sum up the important role of the western region in the overall situation of national reform, development and stability.

The vast western region, encompassing 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, accounts for more than 70 percent of the country's land area and nearly 30 percent of its total population. With a long land border and borders with more than 10 countries, it holds a highly important strategic position in the overall situation of national security and long-term development.

Embarking on the new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects, promoting western development in the new era bears a new historical mission.

Why was this special symposium held at this point in time? We may observe it through two keywords:

  "Consistently" —

The Party Central Committee has always attached great importance to the development of the western region, consistently placing it in an important position within the overall national development picture, making a series of major decisions and arrangements, and proposing the strategy for large-scale development of the western region.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping's inspection tours have covered all 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in the western region, charting the course for high-quality development of the western region in the new era.

On March 19, 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired the seventh meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, which deliberated and adopted the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Large-Scale Development of the Western Region to Form a New Pattern in the New Era. The document explicitly proposed "forming a new pattern of greater protection, greater openness and high-quality development." Less than a month later, the General Secretary visited Chongqing. During that inspection, he referred to these Guiding Opinions and stressed that they were a major decision and arrangement made by the Party Central Committee with the overall situation in mind.

At this symposium, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed the need to "consistently implement the Party Central Committee's policies and measures for promoting large-scale development of the western region," demonstrating the working principle and way of thinking of pursuing sustained efforts and advancing the blueprint with a nail-driving spirit.

 "Further" —

In the five years since the Party Central Committee made arrangements for promoting the large-scale development of the western region to form a new pattern in the new era, the western region has achieved major historic accomplishments in economic and social development. At the same time, however, the development of the western region still faces many difficulties and challenges.

At this crucial point in time, General Secretary Xi Jinping once again came to Chongqing, chaired a special symposium, and proposed to "further form a new pattern of greater protection, greater openness and high-quality development, and enhance the region's overall strength and capacity for sustainable development," positioning and advancing western development within the overall context of Chinese modernization.

How can "further" be achieved? How can a "new pattern" be formed?

At the symposium, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward six "persistences": persisting in taking the development of industries with distinctive advantages as the main direction; persisting in supporting high-quality development with high-level protection; persisting in promoting large-scale development through greater openness; persisting in coordinating development and security; persisting in advancing the organic integration of new urbanization and comprehensive rural revitalization; and persisting in forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.

The six "persistences" are closely linked and point the way toward further promoting the large-scale development of the western region to form a new pattern.

— New drivers of development.

To promote the development of the western region, measures must be tailored to local conditions and classified policies adopted. The General Secretary proposed persisting in taking the development of industries with distinctive advantages as the main direction, and made a series of arrangements such as "developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions" and "planning and building future industries to form new drivers of regional development."

High-quality development cannot be separated from the support of high-level protection. The General Secretary stressed "accelerating major projects for the protection and restoration of important ecosystems" and "vigorously promoting energy-saving and carbon-reduction upgrades of traditional industries."

— Forming a new pattern.

Expanding openness is a far-sighted consideration by General Secretary Xi Jinping for the development of the western region. At the symposium, the General Secretary proposed raising the western region's level of opening up both domestically and internationally, stressing the need to "vigorously advance the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in the west, promote the development and opening up of areas along the corridor, and deeply integrate into the joint construction of the Belt and Road," and to "more proactively serve and align with major regional strategies and actively integrate into the building of a unified national market."

The western region is an area rich in energy and resources. The General Secretary proposed persisting in coordinating development and security and enhancing the capacity to safeguard key areas such as energy and resources.

— Reaching a new level.

Over the past five years, the western region has won the battle against poverty on schedule, and people's living standards have steadily improved. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed ensuring and improving people's livelihood in the course of development, and made a series of arrangements such as "developing county economies with distinctive features, cultivating a number of strong agricultural counties, major industrial counties and renowned tourism counties, and promoting nearby employment and income growth for farmers."

The western region is an area with a relatively large number of ethnic minorities in China. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed persisting in forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and effectively safeguarding ethnic unity and border stability.

At a new starting point, this symposium marks a new beginning for promoting the large-scale development of the western region in the new era, and will surely guide the western region in striving to write a new chapter in the course of Chinese modernization.