Industrial structure ‘needs to change’
Print Edition
Days of lingering smog covering most parts of China have caused traffic jams and school closures, bringing the country’s economic development transformation into sharp focus.
Smog, which started to hit central and eastern areas of the country early this week, was described by He Lifu, chief meteorologist with the China Meteorological Center, as the severest so far this winter.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection blamed the smog on an accumulation of pollutants caused by adverse weather conditions, vehicle emissions and coal-fired pollution.
However, it has been argued that the heavy smog is simply a reflection of China’s economic development, and restructuring of its development model needs to be accelerated.
“Smog and haze are largely attributed to the current development model,” said Xie Zhenhua, deputy minister of the National Development and Reform Commission. He said companies cared more about output growth and that environmental protection was being ignored.
Zhou Jun, an official with the environmental protection bureau in Shanghai, said the way China develops should be fundamentally changed in order to reduce the number of smoggy days. He said the current industrial structure and layout plans need to be revised.
Netizens vented their anger by posting photographs of gray surroundings on social networking websites and on messaging apps.
“It is like a disaster film,” said “Niu Niu” on WeChat, with picture attached.
Sales of face masks at online retailers rose 357 percent over the past week compared with the same period last year.
According to the Actions to Address Climate Change 2013 annual report released last month by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the frequency of smog has risen over the past 50 years.
Data from the meteorological center also showed that in the past 52 years, 2013 has had the most smoggy days.
The government unveiled an action plan in September, vowing to cut the density of inhalable particulate matter by at least 10 percent in major cities nationwide by 2017.
PM2.5, a key indicator of air pollution, should fall by about 25 percent from 2012 levels in Beijing and surrounding provincial areas by 2017, according to the plan.
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