President Xi Jinping called on the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to maintain its strategic focus on environmental protection and build an ecological shield for the country's northern border on Tuesday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark while reviewing the Government Work Report with deputies to the National People's Congress from Inner Mongolia.

Local governments should not pursue economic growth at the cost of sacrificing the environment when economic development encounters difficulties, Xi said.