BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday renewed pledges to tackle the country’s chronic pollution, without announcing any significant new environmental measures.

The Chinese public are increasingly enraged by hazardous smog that regularly blankets cities, as well as water and soil that are laced with heavy metals and various other toxic pollutants.

“Environment pollution is a blight on people’s quality of life and a trouble that weighs on their hearts,” Li told the opening of the annual National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s communist-controlled legislature.

“We must fight it with all our might,” he said.

His comments came after an online documentary on China’s notorious smog was released over the weekend criticising the government’s action on the issue and immediately became a viral sensation, with 155 million views by the next day according to state media.

Authorities have since reportedly told Chinese media to tone down their coverage of the film.

Li’s rhetoric resembled promises he made last year, when he declared a “war” on pollution, but the subject was not as prominent in his address, coming after other economic priorities.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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