Xinhua:
We have noticed that there are many news reports about the central inspection work on environmental protection in the past two years. What's your take on the role of these central inspections? Also, some local governments may relax their efforts after the teams left. So how do you tackle this problem? Thanks.
Zhai Qing:
The central inspection work on environmental protection was a major reform measure advocated and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping, which is an important mechanism to strengthen environmental protection and ecological construction.
We have made many achievements, which are as follows:
First, local governments have had a fundamental change in their thoughts on environmental protection. Xi Jinping's thinking on promoting ecological progress has deeply taken root in people's minds. Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. High-quality development is better than high-speed development. And people in all sectors are focusing on ecological protection and coordinated development. These guiding principles and instructions promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping are being implemented.
Second, there has been a major shift in the conduct of local governments. In our inspections in recent years, we were able to access clearer statistics on environmental protection. As such, we oriented and carried out our tasks based on them. During this process, we earnestly implemented Xi Jinping's thinking on promoting ecological progress and have ensured that the inspection mechanism is an effective measure to promote ecological progress.
Third, we have addressed a series of major problems. The first round of inspections tackled about 150,000 problems closely related to the public. By introducing various means such as our inspection reports and special inspections, we have helped local governments solve over 2,100 major problems relating to environmental protection.
Our next step is to give top priority to the promotion and implementation of Xi Jinping's thinking on promoting ecological progress. Your question is about our future plans. We will continue to solve the problems that affect people's lives. On top of that, we will ensure that people are aware of the importance of environmental protection and take part in the overall effort.
Li Ganjie:
The central inspection work on environmental protection has proved to be an important and effective measure to promote ecological progress. This inspection started at the end of 2015. This year, we carried out the first batch of the first round of inspections and we are going to complete the second batch in the second half of this year.
