Xi stresses firm confidence in high-quality development in Henan

China

Xi stresses firm confidence in high-quality development in Henan

2025-05-20 20:25 Last Updated At：22:37

President Xi Jinping underscored unwavering confidence in boosting high-quality development and enhancing governance efficiency during his inspection tour in central China's Henan Province on Monday and Tuesday.

He urged the province to write a new chapter in advancing Chinese modernization.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, listened to the work report from the CPC Henan Provincial Committee and the provincial government on Tuesday morning.

Noting that Chinese modernization naturally requires high-quality development, Xi said that China should manage its own affairs well amid a complex external environment, stressing efforts to expand high-standard opening up, stabilize employment, enterprises' operation, market and expectations, and tackle various uncertainties with the certainty of the country's high-quality development.

As a major economically developed province, Henan should further consolidate the foundations of the real economy, drive the development of new quality productive forces through scientific and technological innovation, and better support high-quality development with modernization of the industrial system, said Xi.

Efforts should be made in Henan to strengthen farmland protection, solidly shoulder the province's responsibilities in ensuring food security, and promote all-around rural revitalization with integrated urban-rural development, said Xi, noting that Henan should persistently intensify ecological conservation and improvement.

Xi emphasized the need for Henan to strengthen social governance of a large population, raise public service standards, attach great importance to the rule of law and the promotion of integrity and credibility.

Xi said that integrated efforts comprising study, inspection and correction should be made during the Party-wide education campaign to implement the Party central leadership's "eight-point decision" on improving work conduct, noting that emphasis should be placed on problem-solving with precise and effective guidance.

London community mourns for victims of Air India plane crash

2025-06-14 21:09 Last Updated At：21:37

Members of Britain's Gujarati community gathered on Friday at a west London temple to remember the victims of Thursday's Air India plane crash which has claimed 279 lives so far.

With somber air in the local community, no one wanted to be interviewed but many people said they had known the passengers on board the doomed flight.

"I hope god will grant them space to look after themselves, and please look after the family who are left behind," said Sunjit Mehta, chairman of the community organization Brent Indian Association (BIA).

The BIA has opened a book of condolence, and the chairman is planning to visit the relatives of the local families as well as others needing support.

"It's quite daunting for the family members to have to wait around until the bodies are handed over to them," said Mehta.

Meanwhile, BIA's former chairman Rajnikant Patel lost both friends as well as family members. He has been remembering his brother and sister in law Ashok and Shobana Patel.

"He was very good, calm and helpful person. He has helped me a lot, not me alone, if I call him and tell him look so and so is in trouble, can you do something for him, he has helped a lot of people. It's not easy to explain or express the feeling of myself or of the family, but everyone feels very bad, saddened about the incident," he said.

Special prayers services have been organized for the coming days both at this temple and at other centers across Britain, so people can come together to remember the victims of the crash.

Community leaders say they hope it will help people deal with the aftermath of the tragedy the hard days ahead.

Air India's flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, flying from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad to London, descended rapidly and crashed into a building on Thursday shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people on board with only one survivor.