Xi Focus: Planting trees to fortify China's "green assets"

习主席聚焦：植树就是在筑就中国的“绿色资产”

BEIJING, April 5 (Xinhua) - Picking up a shovel, Chinese President Xi Jinping joined children, officials and local residents in planting trees on a riverbank in the nation's capital Beijing this spring, following a tradition that he has kept as the country's top leader for 13 consecutive years.

中国国家主席习近平拾起铁锹，也加入了孩子们、官员们和当地居民们组成的植树大军，他们在中国首都北京的江边植树，这个春天为了响应传统，而这个传统作为主席的他已经坚持了连续13个年头。

"Voluntary tree planting is a nationwide initiative that must be carried on for generations," Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said Thursday at the tree planting site.

He called for strength to be pooled to build a beautiful China and make the country even greener through afforestation efforts.

Xi's resolute commitment to planting trees has inspired Chinese citizens -- government officials and regular folk alike -- to engage actively in China's afforestation initiative and support the nation's green transformation and ecological conservation efforts.

China designated March 12 as National Tree Planting Day in 1979, and launched a nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign in 1981. Thanks to decades of perseverance in its afforestation, China is at the forefront of global efforts to green the planet, contributing approximately a quarter of the world's new green areas since 2000.

"Increasing green coverage is to bring greater development strengths, and planting trees is to plant the future," Xi said at last year's tree-planting activity, calling for continued efforts to enrich the country's "green assets."