National People's Congress Deputy, Wanhua Eco Group Chairman Guo Xingtian Visits CCTV News to Advise on Green Sustainable Development

On March 5, 2023, the First Session of the 14th National People's Congress was grandly held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Guo Xingtian, deputy to the National People's Congress, Chairman of Wanhua Hexiang Eco-Technology Co., Ltd., Chairman of Sikong Technology Co., Ltd., Executive Director and Vice President of China Environmental Protection Industry Association, attended the meeting with three proposals,offering suggestions and advicefor the high-quality development of China's home furnishing industry.

That evening, Guo Xingtian was invited to participate inCCTV NewsCCTV News' special live program "A Year's Plan Looks at the Two Sessions," where he discussed green and sustainable development and the vision of Chinese-style modernization with fellow deputies Wang Yucheng, Lei Yafei, and Xu Hongcai, Deputy Director of the Economic Policy Committee of the China Policy Science Research Association.

Guo Xingtian: "Our country's traditional forest industry was mainly focused on logging. In 2016, the country began implementing the Natural Forest Protection Project, completely banning the logging of natural forests, shifting from logging to forest cultivation. After decades of effort, our forest coverage rate has reached 24.1%, achieving the 14th Five-Year Plan target ahead of schedule. However, even so, our country's forest coverage accounts for 5% of the world's total, but available timber is only 3%, while we have 20% of the world's population. This inevitably creates a huge demand fortimber and forest industry products,so this contradiction is still very significant. Currently, 50% of our timber demand is still met by imports, which is clearly unsustainable. Therefore, I think this has become a resource security issue."
Guo Xingtian: "When 1.4 billion people in our country begin to live a happy life, we must find a green and sustainable path. I believe this path requires finding alternative materials to meet our needs for a better life. Our country produces about 1.4 billion tons of agricultural and forestry residues every year. The fibers in these residues are not much different from wood, and we can fully utilize them effectively through scientific methods, thereby reducing dependence on imports."

Guo Xingtian: "I hope the country will make overall plans, so that former forest farms and the forest industry can be planned and used scientifically. At the same time, in areas where the forest industry is more developed, integrated industrial parks for the forest industry should be built locally to form a tiered resource system and increase efficiency, so that our limited resources can be fully utilized."