New environmental minister Chen Jining vows to pursue polluters and ensure green laws have 'iron teeth'
Chen Jining says that while the mainland has will to change, it won't happen overnight
The mainland's new environment minister, Chen Jining, pledged the government would go after all illegal polluters and ensure green laws clamped down with "iron teeth".
But Chen admitted the challenge the nation faced was "unprecedented in human history".
"We cannot rush for solutions, nor should we expect rapid improvement overnight," Chen told reporters at the National People's Congress session in Beijing, his first public appearance in the role.
Chen said the nation had not yet unleashed the full potential of pollution-treatment technologies due to poor innovation.
Less than a week into the country's annual legislative sessions, both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have made promises to tackle the pollution crisis, marked by choking smog, contaminated rivers and toxic soil. But Chen spent much of his time before the world media repeating existing policies and clean-up plans, with no new insights on solutions offered.
Chen, 51, has a doctorate in environmental system science, and was previously president of Tsinghua University. His experience in environmental research and policy had raised public expectations he would bring more expertise to the role that his predecessor, Zhou Shengxian , who has retired. But Chen has no experience working in a government agency, having spent his career at Tsinghua.
