Foreign news

Ecological Development Picks Up Steam In China’s Fujian Province, As Agricultural Talents Sent To Villages For Farming Tips

Published

4 years ago

March 25, 2021

From expanding the use of reusable energy and desert greening to setting a concrete target for China’s CO2 emission peak, the country is making its “green development” drive crystal clear as it tops Beijing’s next five-year plan.

In east China’s Fujian Province, where Chinese President Xi Jinping had spent over 17 years, locals are hugely benefiting from tea plantations.

On Monday, President Xi revisited the area during a four-day inspection tour. He inspected an ecological tea garden in Xingcun Township in Nanping City, in the first tour after the adoption of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for national economic and social development and the long-range objectives through the year 2035.

Agricultural talents sent to villages for rural revitalization

Thanks to the advice given by agricultural talents sent to villages, rapeseed is now growing alongside tea plants in an effective strategy to increase soil fertility while ensuring the preservation of biodiversity and the entire ecological chain.

Agricultural talents, also called “technological commissioners,” was an idea introduced by the then governor to Fujian Province in a 2002 article, which called for bonding officials and farmers. In the article, Xi pointed out that it’s “beneficial” to “explore innovative working mechanisms in villages.”

In October 2019, Xi again stressed the importance of “technology commissioners” to the country’s realization of rural revitalization at a summary meeting on the 20 years’ implementation of the technology commissioner system in Beijing.

“In the past, the tea industry was a pillar in your fight against poverty, and it should become a pillar industry of rural vitalization in the future,” Xi said on Monday at the tea farm. Fujian is a major tea production base in China, with the main categories being oolong tea, green tea and black tea.

To understand local efforts in ecological protection from a broader view, Xi also visited an intelligent management center at the Wuyishan National Park the same day.

During his visit to the park, he encountered a group of tourists. “You can enjoy the mountain scenery in Wuyishan, and enjoy the seascape in Xiamen City (Fujian’s provincial capital city),” he told the group.

Cultural confidence: 5,000 years of civilization

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Monday highlighted cultural confidence during a visit to a park dedicated to Zhu Xi, a renowned Chinese philosopher of the 12th century.

“Without the 5,000-year-long Chinese civilization, how could we have found the road to achieve today’s success,” Xi said when he visited the park in the city of Wuyishan, east China’s Fujian Province.

“Taking the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must continue to adapt Marxism to China’s conditions,” Xi noted.

Special attention should be paid to tapping the essence of the 5,000-year-long Chinese civilization, promoting fine traditional culture, integrating its essence with the Marxist stance, viewpoint and methodology, and unswervingly following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Xi said.

As one of the main ancient Confucian scholars, Zhu Xi was famous for his expositions on Confucian classics. He put forward concepts such as “the people are the foundation of a nation,” embodying the people-based philosophy in ancient China.

(With input from Xinhua)

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

4 mins ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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