Political Lens

Xi urges efforts to better build, maintain rural roads

President Xi Jinping has called for continuous efforts to better build, manage, maintain and operate China's rural roads, in order to further promote rural vitalization and accelerate the country's modernization in the agricultural and rural sectors.

In a recent instruction, Xi said the nation has secured significant progress in ensuring the sound construction, management, maintenance and operation of rural roads, which strengthened rural residents' sense of gain, happiness and security.

Efforts should be made to further optimize policies and regulations, enhance governance capabilities, and ensure the sound implementation of a new round of initiatives to improve rural roads, he said.

The instruction from Xi was conveyed by Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Wednesday during a meeting in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, on promoting the high-quality development of rural roads.

Premier, top legislator meet Equatorial Guinean president

Premier Li Qiang and China's top legislator Zhao Leji met separately with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo on Wednesday in Beijing.

China is willing to advance and expand cooperation projects with Equatorial Guinea in areas such as infrastructure construction, the marine economy, the green economy and agricultural development, in order to further upgrade bilateral relations, Li told Obiang.

China encourages competent Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in the African nation and explore new cooperation models such as public-private partnership and the integration of investment, construction and operation, in order to provide more impetus to Equatorial Guinea's industrialization, the premier said.

Zhao, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said during his meeting with Obiang that the NPC is ready to enhance exchanges with Equatorial Guinea's parliament to learn from each other's experience in governance and to approve and revise legal documents conducive to bilateral cooperation.

Obiang expressed gratitude for China's support for his country's economic and social development, saying that Equatorial Guinea is willing to deepen its cooperation with China.

Beijing to strengthen exchanges with Kuala Lumpur

China will continue to strengthen high-level exchanges with Malaysia, and the two countries will support each other in safeguarding core interests and better leverage economic complementarity to push for win-win cooperation, Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday.

Li made the remarks when meeting with Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister I and Minister of Rural and Regional Development Dato'Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi, who is on an 11-day official visit to China.

Beijing hopes to work with Kuala Lumpur to deepen mutual learning among civilizations, and push forward the joint construction of a China-Malaysia community with a shared future to better benefit the two peoples, he said.

Ahmad Zahid said the relationship between Malaysia and China will not be affected by any external interference or influence. Malaysia firmly adheres to the one-China principle and condemns all forms of "China-phobia", he added.