An old man wearing facial mask walks at the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing, capital of China. (Photo : Xinhua)
New Environmental Protection Minister Chen Jining has pledged to pursue stricter enforcement of the country’s environmental laws, a year after the government declared to address water, air and soil pollution, and made some proposals to address the country’s pollution problems.
Chen was appointed on Feb. 27 and tasked to lead the government campaign to keep the balance between economic development and environmental protection.
President Xi Jinping on March 6 had urged the people to safeguard the environment seriously as he vowed to penalized those who will be caught violating the law.
"We are going to punish, with an iron hand, any violators who destroy ecology or environment, with no exceptions," Xi was quoted as saying in an article in Women of China.
Premier Li Keqiang, on the other hand, also pledged to reduce carbon emission by at least 3.1 percent this year.
Chen, an environmental scientist and former president of the Tsinghua University, proposed some solutions to help ease the problem, which he said was worse than what Japan and Germany had experienced on their way to industrialization.
Speaking to members of the media during the National People's Council meeting, the new environmental protection minister pledged to implement tougher laws, as well as innovation and market leverage to help the country reduce pollution.
The minister said that the new environmental law, which took effect on Jan. 1, gives the ministry more power to go after officials breaking the law as corruption allegations become allegedly rampant among environmental watchdogs.
Chen cautioned Chinese enterprises and government watchdogs on illegal mediation as he warned that graft in environmental assessments will not be tolerated.
To speed up pollution control in relation to economic development, the minister has pledged to legislate a law on environmental protection tax, which will be valued at around 8 trillion yuan ($1.3 trillion) to 10 trillion yuan in the coming years.
In addition to this, the minister vowed to hasten to put a price reform and mechanism for investment returns as well as provide easy access to market through public-private partnerships.
He promised to cooperate with international organizations and countries to combat pollution in time for the new universal climate agreement to be signed in Paris, France, in December this year.
