A series of tree-planting activities were held across China as the country marked its 47th Arbor Day, or Tree-Planting Day, on Wednesday, with the aim of improving plant coverage and combating soil erosion and desertification.
The Tree-Planting Day is a time to embrace nature and sow hope for a greener future, and tree-planting activities were in full swing along the banks of the Yangtze River that runs through Jingzhou City, in central China's Hubei Province. Hundreds of volunteers worked in high spirit with tools in hand, digging holes, planting trees, and watering the new saplings. Over 500 trees have been planted in a short period of time.
This initiative will continue beyond the Tree-Planting Day, with an annual goal of planting trees across an area of approximately 2,000 hectares along the riverbank.
Meanwhile, in east China's Fujian Province, efforts to improve forest landscapes were made in scenic areas, including the Wuyi Mountain, a place of great natural beauty that was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site for both cultural and natural heritage protection in 1999. Around 20,000 flowering trees have been planted in the scenic area.
In Changting County of Fujian Province, staff from the local soil and water conservation center were busy replanting tree species that can capture carbon effectively.
"Today we are replanting Chinese Sweet Gum and Chinese guger trees, which are the native broad-leaved tree species that can capture carbon effectively. We have reached our goal of forestation coverage and soil erosion prevention thanks to measures taken before," said Yue Hui, director of Changting County Soil and Water Conservation Center.
Changting was once among the counties with the most serious soil erosion in southeastern China's red soil region.
Data shows that since 2012, Changting County has taken comprehensive measures to control soil erosion in an area of over 97,800 hectares, and the soil erosion area dropped from nearly 31,800 hectares at the end of 2011 to just over 21,000 hectares at the end of 2020, with soil erosion rate dropping to 6.78 percent, which is lower than the provincial average.
Fujian Province has completed around 31,200 hectares of tree planting and afforestation work so far the last year. The province's forest coverage rate has exceeded 65 percent, and has ranked first in the country for several consecutive years.
In Ordos City of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, tree-planting robots and semi-automatic planting trucks are working to combat desertification with greater efficiency and lower labor costs.
The tree-planting robots can move steadily across the sandy land, precisely inserting one-meter-long willow branches. It took just 19 minutes for these robots to complete the planting of drought-resistant plants in an area of around 700 square meters.
As the frontline in China's battle against desertification and sandstorms, Inner Mongolia shoulders 60 percent of the country's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program in combating sandy land degradation.
According to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Forestry and Grassland Bureau, the region planted over 43 million trees through public participation in 2024.
Tree-planting activities held across China in bid to build greener future
Foreign diplomats and scholars are looking closely at this year's "two sessions", saying China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) will not only chart the nation's economic and technological priorities but also reshape global value chains.
The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top political advisory body, opened on Wednesday, followed by the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday. Together known as the "two sessions," these meetings offer a comprehensive view into China's development priorities.
Global observers emphasized that the 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint guiding the nation's economic, social, and technological priorities over the next five years, marks a decisive shift toward high‑quality growth anchored in advanced technologies, with ripple effects across the world.
"The two sessions will discuss China's five-year plan, which is heavily oriented toward China's major technological development. I believe this is important because it represents the new blueprint for China's economy, which is now oriented toward the renowned high-quality development, and this will undoubtedly impact the entire world. I think it is worth studying. This is very important for Latin America. It will help us integrate more intelligently into global value chains and into all aspects of the major development that China is promoting in iconic industrial sectors, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space development, where Latin America also has much to contribute beyond just commercial growth," said Gustavo Sabino Vaca Narvaja, former Argentine Ambassador to China.
"The two sessions are a major political milestone in China, and this year's gathering carries even greater significance as this year marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. This plan represents not only a blueprint for China, but also a guide for other countries. Instruments like the five-year plan effectively provide greater certainty and predictability for the rest of the world," said Chilean scholar of international relations Ignacio Araya Heredia.
"This is a particularly important date, especially due to the fact that the next Five-Year Plan shall be positioned and we're going to see what its main elements shall be. Serbia, which has a very high degree of steel friendship with the People's Republic of China, can expect further assistance in identifying the most prominent areas of Serbian economy and being helped by its great partner, such as it has been done in the previous period, from one part with establishing the main infrastructure projects, but also reshaping the industrial sector of Serbia, not just Serbia, but the region as a whole," said Veljko Mijuskovic, assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade.
Beyond the policy framework, experts also pointed to China's achievements in green energy and technological innovation as models worth emulating.
Tomasz Bielinski, adjunct professor at the University of Gdansk's Faculty of Economics, said the robotics displays at the 2026 China Media Group (CMG) Spring Festival Gala reflected China's broader push in technological innovation.
"I was really impressed about the robotics. I'm very impressed with Chinese development in the technological field, we can still make great deals with Chinese businessmen and we can cooperate together to use this technology for both the good of China and the European Union. I'm aware of the innovation especially in autonomous drive on the on the Chinese side," he said.
"We hope for more of China's economic cooperation, especially in trade and also in investment. Also, and the other focus, if I talk about the focus of the development, don't forget about the green energy. We know that China is great in the electric vehicle field. So because China's electric vehicles in Indonesia nowadays, since couple of years ago, are very, very popular," said Al Busyra Basnur, president of the Indonesia-China Friendship Association.
Observers see China's new five-year plan driving high-quality development, global tech shifts
