Hubei a key player in development of Central China

Hubei province has given full play to its industrial strength to become a strategic driver in the rise of Central China, a senior local Party official said on Wednesday.

Xu Zhengzhong, head of the publicity department of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said the province has become the world's largest manufacturer of optical fiber, as well as China's largest manufacturer of optical devices and a research and development base for optical communication technology.

Hubei also has a strong automobile industry, with revenue accounting for 8 percent of the national total last year. Meanwhile, revenue from the new energy vehicle industry grew 3.8 times year-on-year, Xu said at a group interview on the sidelines of the ongoing 20th CPC National Congress.

Moreover, the province has distinctive strength in its health industry and high-end equipment manufacturing, he said.

The province will continue to make good use of its advantages in talent, create a favorable business environment, build a cooperation mechanism among companies and introduce more leading enterprises, he said.

Hubei is also determined to improve the environmental protection of the Yangtze River, which flows for 1,061 kilometers through the province, he said.

Hubei has closed more than 12,000 sewage outlets along the Yangtze, and a total of 443 chemical enterprises located along the river have been relocated, transformed or closed, he said.

A 10-year fishing ban covering all the Yangtze's key waters has taken effect in the province, and former fishermen have become protectors of the waterway and aquatic resources, he said.