New environmental team booed amid pollution woes
Rare display of discord in NPC as committee that oversees country's widely criticised anti-pollution efforts gets large number of 'no' votes
Delegates to the mainland's rubber-stamp legislature finally got a chance to express their grievances over rampant pollution in votes yesterday as Beijing was once again shrouded in smog.
Most of the almost 3,000 NPC deputies greeted the result with a long boo, before clapping as the line-up was approved.
It was one of the lowest approval rates in NPC voting since a plan to construct the massive Three Gorges Dam was endorsed in 1992. About two-thirds of 2,633 deputies at the time voted for the dam, while 177 opposed it and 664 abstained.
Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian also won the least recognition from deputies, receiving 2,734 votes of approval, the lowest among 25 ministers appointed yesterday.
The unusually strong opposition vote showed that even the mainland's legislators - one-third of whom are government officials - can no longer bear its filthy air and water.
The votes came as official readings from environmental authorities showed the air in Beijing was severely polluted for most of the daytime yesterday, while the United States embassy rated the air as "very unhealthy" or "hazardous".