China makes no new promises in battle to clear the day as it fine-tunes pollution targets
Premier acknowledges air quality issues as he fine-tunes targets in clean-up campaign
One year after Premier Li Keqiang declared war on pollution, the central government seems to be refraining from making any new promises on the matter this year, focusing instead on following through on all its previously set targets.
The lacklustre report on pollution, delivered by Li at the opening of the National People's Congress' annual full session on Thursday came amid seething public grievances on the smog issue, made more pronounced in recent days by former state television presenter Chai Jing's viral documentary.
Chai's 103-minute video blames China's powerful oil companies and weak enforcement for the country's continued pollution woes.
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In his speech, Li admitted that pollution was "a blight on people's quality of life and a trouble that weighed on their hearts".
He set a wide range of pollution emission targets for the year, repeating a commitment to crack down "with iron fists" on illegal polluters as well as those who failed to properly carry out their supervisory duties.
He also underscored the country's plan to grant greater support the development of new energies - solar, wind, biomass, hydro and nuclear sources - and to limit total energy consumption in what has been promoted as President Xi Jinping's energy-sector revolution.
Guangdong-based lawyer Zhu Lieyu, who is also a national legislator, suggested that the environmental ministry's work should be subjected to the national legislature's annual review so that its officials would be required to produce real results in curbing pollution.