Xi urges all-out rescue work after blast
President calls for concrete actions to protect people’s lives and to uphold social stability
President Xi Jinping ordered allout efforts to rescue the injured and asked the authorities to console the families of the casualties shortly after a gas explosion occurred in Shiyan, Hubei province, on Sunday morning.
The accident, which occurred at a marketplace near a residential community in the city of Shiyan, has left 12 people dead and 37 seriously injured.
In an instruction released on Sunday afternoon, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, required a timely investigation of the accident and that those responsible for the explosion be held accountable.
He mentioned that some workplace safety and campus safety incidents have occurred in various places nationwide, and he urged efforts to screen for potential safety risks and for caution to prevent major emergencies.
Concrete actions must be taken to safeguard people’s lives and property and to uphold overall social stability, Xi said.
Premier Li Keqiang also made an instruction on Sunday, urging that the utmost efforts be made to reduce injuries and casualties. He also asked related departments of the State Council to take solid measures to intensify oversight of safety matters in key areas so as to resolutely reduce major accidents.
Acting upon the instructions of Xi and Li, a task force comprising officials and professionals from the Ministry of Emergency Management, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Health Commission has been sent to Shiyan to help in the rescue efforts.
Twelve people died and 138 were injured in the gas explosion in Shiyan on Sunday morning, according to the local information office.
possible their familiar institutional setting and way of life, she said.
It fully demonstrated the Party’s care of Hong Kong people’s well-being and its people-oriented principle, Lam added.
Leung Chun-ying, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said that with the “one country, two systems” principle, the Party has set the precedent of peacefully resolving territorial and sovereignty issues left over by history.
The seminar also featured a panel discussion moderated by Wang Songmiao, who assumed the office of secretary-general at the liaison office in February, and it was attended by some of the city’s political leaders.
Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies and one of the panel guests, said the vitality of “one country, two systems” lies in its forward-looking and self-correcting mechanism. Under the principle, the central government exercises overall jurisdiction over Hong Kong, which enjoys a high degree of autonomy. That makes it possible for Hong Kong to return to the right track without a complete overhaul of the institutional setting, he added.
The event, with around 650 participants, was co-organized by the HKSAR government and four central authorities’ organizations in Hong Kong — the liaison office, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in the HKSAR, the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR and the Hong Kong Garrison of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.