Qinghai province in Northwest China will insist on green growth in its economic development even at the sacrifice of GDP, Qiang Wei, secretary of CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee, said in Beijing.

Qinghai has a rich reserve of coal, gold and other mineral resources, but the province will put environmental protection first in developing its economy, according to the official.

The province, an important belt to protect the ecological safety on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, boasts sources of three major rivers - the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River (which becomes the Mekong outside China), and Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, home to dozens of endangered species of wildlife including wild yaks, Tibetan wild donkeys and Tibetan antelopes.

Qinghai's economy is amongst the smallest in China, with its GDP for 2009 just 108.1 billion RMB and about 0.3 percent of the entire country's economy.