No more large development projects will be launched along the Yangtze River, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday at a top-level meeting to finalize guidelines for the economic belt along China's longest river.

All economic activity along the Yangtze must not result in harm or risk to the environment, Xi told the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs.

With major exploitation no longer allowed, all government departments have been told to comprehensively protect environmental quality in the Yangtze Valley.