Eight Chinese ministries jointly held a videoconference to plan for this year's special campaign against polluting companies.
The eight parties are reported to be the Ministry of Environmental Protection; State Development and Reform Commission; the Ministry of Supervision; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development; the General Administration for Industry and Commerce; the State Administration of Work Safety; and the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Zhou Shengxian, the MEP minister, stated at the conference that 2009 will be the most difficult year for China's economic development, and that enforcement of environmental laws country also faces major challenges. Zhou said that with the rapid decline in China's economic growth, the environment is now under greater pressure and unforeseen environmental accidents are on the rise.
Zhou points out that the environment campaign of this year will keep to the line of guarantee growth, livelihood and stability and efforts will be made to strengthen on law enforcement and prevent repeated construction of high energy consumption and high pollution programs. He says that the environment department will focus on addressing environment issues that do harm to health and hinder sustainability, keep a close watch on the steel and arsenic industries and consolidate the achievement made environment protection.