China's Air Quality: Law makers hold special inquiries on air quality control

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China's air quality has improved across the country, according to a report released by the NPC Standing Committee. Law makers have held special inquiries into this report. CGTN's Hou Na tells us more about the special inquiry into the quest to improve air quality.

Questions and answers. And this time it's all about China's air quality as government officials take inquiries from law makers.

JIAO YONG MEMBER, NPC STANDING COMMITTEE "How can we establish a stricter emission standard of air pollutants?"

ZHAO YINGMIN CHINESE VICE MINISTER OF ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT "We are now working on different categories of emission standards to make it more scientific and practical."

The amendments to the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law were effective on January 1st, 2016.

And to check if it was adhered to, the NPC Standing Committee sent four teams to eight provincial-level regions, including Henan, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi.

And the results are out: In 2017, PM10 levels in 338 Chinese cities decreased by 22.7 percent compared to 2013. There were also major drops in PM2.5 levels in areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

Part of the improvement is due to a cut in production capacity. Steel, coal and cement output over the last five years have been reduced.

China is also shifting to greener energy. Coal consumption dropped 8.1 percentage points, and the proportion of clean energy in total energy consumption increased by 6.3 percent over the past five years.

These inquiry sessions are essential, as the NPC Standing Committee hashes out what's necessary for law enforcement.

LI WEI MEMBER, NPC STANDING COMMITTEE "Most ordinary people may have no idea that the NPC Standing Committee already conducted the special inquiries on different topics more than twenty times. This offered a good chance for law makers and officials to map out more effective measures."

This is not Li Wei's first special inquiries session. According to him, this sort of legal inspection is how the legislature plays its supervisory role.

The sessions are meant to figure out the problems that get in the way of law enforcement, and to push related departments to solve them by the rule of law. HOU NA, CGTN, BEIJING.