Li Bin, vice-chairperson and secretary-general of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), led a delegation from the Committee on Population, Resources and Environment of the CPPCC National Committee to conduct a survey on commercial seawater desalination in South China's Hainan province, from Nov 16 to 18, 2022.

The delegation visited a seawater desalination project of Ledong Power Generation Co Ltd affiliated with China Energy Investment Corporation, Longqi Bay Modern Smart Fish Farm, and the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to learn about the operation of seawater desalination projects, the development of the modern marine industry, and the scientific and technological research of the ocean.

During a meeting with local officials and experts in Haikou, capital city of Hainan, Li acknowledged the achievements made by the province in the technological research of seawater desalination and in the application of relevant technologies on tropical islands, as well as its innovative development of oceanic technologies.

She said that the province should further understand the strategic importance of seawater desalination to the security of national water resources, grasp concepts, technologies, cost management, environmental impacts and policy standards for the commercial utilization of desalinated seawater, make coordinated efforts to promote the large-scale utilization of desalinated seawater resources by following the principles of making technological breakthroughs, lowering costs, enhancing operational efficiency, protecting the natural environment and expanding application scenarios, and to adopt concrete actions to safeguard the national security of water resources.

Li stressed that it is a primary task for Hainan to focus on technological innovation and development in the promotion of seawater desalination.The province should further unleash its development potential through industrial application, make breakthroughs in the research and development of key and core technologies, lower production and application costs, bolster the efficiency, reliability and self-independence of relevant equipment and techniques, she said.

Hainan should build an overall industrial chain for seawater desalination, strengthen the building of industrial standards for seawater desalination and the monitoring of environmental changes, step up publicity and science popularization efforts to lay a solid foundation for seawater desalination, she added.

She also urged efforts to study and implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), make full use of the political consultative functions of the CPPCC, conduct investigations on and voice proposals for key issues in the building of ecological civilization, and pool wisdom and strength for the realization of the country's modernization drive featuring the harmonious co-existence between mankind and nature.