He Wei, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, has called for efforts to guide overseas Chinese to play an active part in advancing Chinese modernization.

He, who is also chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, made the remarks while leading a team to inspect progress in leveraging the resources of overseas Chinese to contribute to Chinese modernization in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region from April 16 to 20.

During the inspection tour, the team conducted on-site surveys in the cities of Nanning, Laibin and Liuzhou and attended symposiums to listen to work reports and receive suggestions regarding the region's work on overseas Chinese affairs.

He highly commended Guangxi for its efforts to use the resources of overseas Chinese to expand opening-up both domestically and internationally on the new journey in the new era and to actively serve and integrate itself into the new development paradigm with a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.

He emphasized the necessity for Guangxi, as a major hometown of overseas Chinese in the country, to pool the wisdom and strength of overseas Chinese to support the nation’s efforts to advance Chinese modernization.

He called for efforts to utilize the region’s unique geographical advantages as a frontier for opening-up and cooperation with the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and as an important gateway connecting countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, to develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, fully unleash the potential of overseas Chinese resources in high-tech fields, and to promote high-quality economic and social development in Guangxi.

Local people's congresses at all levels should improve the legal system related to overseas Chinese affairs, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of overseas Chinese, returned overseas Chinese and their relatives in accordance with the law, he added.