Blue Sky Cannot and Should Not Be a Luxury Item

On the morning of March 15, Premier Li Keqiang met with Chinese and foreign journalists who interviewed the Fifth Session of the Twelfth National People's Congress at the Golden Hall on the third floor of the Great Hall of the People and answered their questions.

Accelerating the improvement of ecological environment quality, especially air quality, is an urgent desire of the people and an inherent requirement for sustainable development. We must adopt scientific policies, address both the symptoms and root causes, and implement iron fisted governance, striving to deliver qualified answers to the people. In response to the question "How can we make such a continuous blue sky no longer a luxury", Li Keqiang pointed out that the problem of smog is indeed a pain point for the people. Blue sky, like air, is equal to everyone. All of us here hope to see more blue skies, but China has indeed encountered environmental challenges, especially the problem of haze, in its development process. The government work report outlines five measures that will be firmly pushed forward to truly fight a 'blue sky defense war', but this requires a process.

The "Blue Sky Defense Campaign" first proposed in the government work report was a hot topic during this year's National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Among the 78 revisions in this report, 8 are related to it, making the haze control plan more precise and scientific. It is worth mentioning that the newly revised government work report particularly emphasizes the issues of "source analysis" and "haze formation mechanism".

Li Keqiang stated that our focus on controlling haze includes coal combustion, exhaust emissions, dust, etc. However, when I participated in the discussions at the Two Sessions this year, some scientists said that there are other important factors besides that, and we have not fully understood the formation mechanism of haze. The winter haze in northern China is unique to the whole world, and scientists still need to make sufficient evidence. The country will establish a special fund for this purpose, spare no expense in organizing the best relevant scientists to tackle the problem, and quickly identify the unknown factors that contribute to the formation of haze, making haze control more effective.

The ups and downs of nature are beyond human control, but we can control our behavior and transform our development path. I share the same sentiment as everyone that haze needs to be controlled, and blue skies will not and should not become luxury goods in the future, "said Li Keqiang.