BEIJING, Jul. 31-On Jul. 31, Zhang Gaoli, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, presented and delivered remarks at the tenth meeting of the regional cooperation mechanism for the air pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas.
General Secretary Xi Jinping noted that it is imperative to establish a trans-regional environmental protection institution and improve the aforementioned regional cooperation mechanism for the air pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas, in an effort to improve the area-wide air quality and tackle major air pollution problems, said Zhang. The air pollution control has been effective in China in the first six months of the year, and yet, the situation in this region remained considerably challenging, especially in the fall and winter.
Therefore, pertinent measures should be taken to curb the air pollution in the fall and winter. We should strive to attain the annual target for replacing bulk coals with clean energy sources in the countryside and control the coal consumption by upgrading the coal-fired boilers. We should halt the operations of unlicensed small polluters before asking them to make environmental improvements, upgrade the industrial emission standards and control the fugitive emissions and VOCs. We should roll out enterprise-specific plans to restrict and halt the operations of heavy polluters during the heat supply season, punish the vehicles that violate the emission standards and upscale the fuel quality. We should strictly regulate the stalk incineration and flying dust pollution, and minimize the negative impact of heavy air pollution by improving the emergency preparedness plans.
The local areas and departments should observe the “three stricts and three honests” principle, and make sure the above said measures are fully implemented, added Zhang. We will hold the cities, districts and counties accountable for not attaining the air quality improvement goals and inefficiency, strengthen government-industry collaboration, and launch central environmental protection inspection as deemed necessary.
We should unite more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, firmly establish the “four awareness”, overcome the difficulties, substantially improve the air quality, and greet the victory opening of the 19th National Congress of the CPC with distinguished performance, Zhang emphasized.
The heads of the seven provinces and municipalities-Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, and Henan, and 56 cities, districts, and counties, and relevant departments in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas participated at the meeting.
（Source：Ministry of Environmental Protection）
