The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly hold a seminar to discuss the role of procuratorial organs in supporting and safeguarding the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in Yibin, Sichuan province, on May 20.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the development strategy for the Yangtze River Economic Belt. On May 20, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) jointly held a seminar in Yibin, Southwest China's Sichuan province, to discuss the role of procuratorial organs in supporting and safeguarding the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Ying Yong, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Prosecutor General of the SPP, and Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu attended the seminar and delivered speeches.
Yu Lijun, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Sichuan Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, delivered an address. Zhang Xueqiao, Deputy Prosecutor General of the SPP, presided over the seminar.
Ying pointed out that the rule of law is an important safeguard for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, urging procuratorial organs to earnestly implement the arrangements for advancing the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt set forth in the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for national economic and social development.
This, Ying noted, involves thoroughly implementing the Ecological and Environmental Code and the Yangtze River Protection Law, firmly establishing and practicing a correct understanding of governance performance, and coordinating the advancement of ecological and environmental protection and economic and social development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
By fulfilling their duties as the country's legal supervision organs, procuratorial organs should support and safeguard the region's high-quality development through high-quality and efficient performance of their duties, he added.
Ying stressed that procuratorial organs should duly perform their functions in punishing all types of crimes related to the Yangtze River in accordance with the law, safeguard security and stability in regions along the Yangtze River, and support high-quality development through high-level security.
He emphasized that efforts should be made to punish crimes that undermine the ecological environment of the Yangtze River Basin, strictly implement the 10-year fishing ban, and continue to crack down on crimes such as illegal fishing of aquatic products in the basin.
Ying stressed that legal mechanisms, including compensation for damage and punitive damages, should be strictly enforced to advance coordinated ecological restoration of the Yangtze River, emphasizing the need to protect the basin with the strictest legal systems and the most rigorous rule of law.
Furthermore, Ying called for enhanced and law-based judicial protection for innovation entities and activities to foster new growth drivers and strengths in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
He urged advancing the special campaign on supervising illegal cross-jurisdictional and profit-driven law enforcement and judicial practices and improving procuratorial measures to support the development of pilot free trade zones in provincial-level regions along the Yangtze River, so as to better support the Yangtze River Economic Belt in becoming a new vanguard for high-level opening-up.
He also stressed the need to severely punish crimes such as damaging cultural relics and sites in the Yangtze River Basin, and to protect, inherit and promote the Yangtze River culture.
Ying stated that, in alignment with the key tasks of ensuring and improving people’s livelihoods in provincial-level regions along the Yangtze River, procuratorates should advance procuratorial protection for people's livelihoods by continuing to deliver tangible results in serving the people through procuratorial work.
Procuratorial organs should take a more proactive role in the holistic protection of the Yangtze River, deepen integrated performance of procuratorial functions, strengthen law enforcement and judicial coordination, and further promote collaboration between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, as well as between procuratorial public interest litigation and ecological damage compensation, in a joint effort to safeguard the sound development of the Yangtze River, according to Ying.
Additionally, procuratorates should consciously accept supervision from people's congresses, democratic supervision from the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and public oversight, and make full use of platforms such as the "Yixin Weigong" Volunteer Procuratorial Cloud Platform to pool stronger legal forces for the comprehensive protection of the Yangtze River, he added.
During the seminar, the White Paper on Procuratorial Organs' Support and Safeguards for the Development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt During the 14th Five-Year Plan Period (2021-25) was released, along with typical cases of coordination between procuratorial supervision and ecological environment law enforcement in serving and safeguarding the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Moreover, progress on the special campaign of procuratorial public interest litigation for water environment governance in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was presented at the seminar.
Leading officials from relevant departments of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the MEE and the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) delivered keynote speeches.
Officials from provincial procuratorates of Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei and Sichuan shared experiences in supporting green and low-carbon development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Six deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference attend the seminar.
Prior to the seminar, Ying held a discussion with invited deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and CPPCC National Committee members who have long paid attention to ecological and environmental issues related to the Yangtze River.
Leading officials from relevant central Party and State organs, chief prosecutors of procuratorates and heads of ecology and environment departments from the 11 provincial-level regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, as well as leading officials from relevant departments and bureaus of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, attend the seminar.
Seminar participants included leading officials from relevant departments of the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the NPC, the Supreme People's Court, the NDRC, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the MEE, the Ministry of Transport, the MWR, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Changjiang (Yangtze) Water Resources Commission.
Chief prosecutors of procuratorates and heads of ecology and environment departments from the 11 provincial-level regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt also attended the seminar.
Leading officials from relevant departments and bureaus of the SPP also participated.
Participants also conducted on-site research on the work of procuratorial organs of Sichuan province in safeguarding the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
