More Chinese cities get black marks for pollution failures
Top local officials summoned to Beijing for public dressing down over persistent environmental damage
China’s environment ministry has criticised senior officials from three cities for failing to fix serious pollution problems, in Beijing’s latest attempt to name and shame regional governments for persistent environmental violations.
Local officials needed to “improve their political stance” and follow Chinese President Xi Jinping’s idea of environmental protection, officials told two mayors and a county chief at a meeting held in front of reporters on Monday.
“Local authorities should learn lessons from this meeting ... You should dare to do a real job and actually grasp the problems you have failed to improve for years,” said He Xianghong, deputy head of an environment ministry monitoring team.
Xi has become the driving force behind China’s four-year war on pollution, and said last month he would use the full might of the Communist Party to reverse damage to the environment.
The president’s direct involvement has turned environmental compliance into a matter of political loyalty, putting regions under even more pressure to comply with tough new rules and standards.
But while some provinces have been racing to meet or even exceed their targets, especially in developed eastern regions close to the capital Beijing, others have fallen behind.