China to designate a number of national parks: Xi

BEIJING, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- China will designate a number of national parks, accounting for about 10 percent of the country's land area, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday.

Xi made the remarks when delivering a speech via video at the opening ceremony of the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in China's Wuhan and Switzerland's Geneva.

Xi noted that China has recently drawn up a layout plan of national parks, and about 11 million hectares of wetlands will be incorporated in the national park system. ■