China Vows to Curb Emissions as Pollution Fuels Social Unrest

Chinese environmental protection officials pledged to step up their efforts to curb emissions as rising levels of pollution spurs social unrest in the world’s second-biggest economy.

“We need to continuously speed up implementation of plans to prevent air pollution,” Wu Xiaoqing, vice environmental protection minister, said at a briefing held as part of annual legislative meetings in Beijing and aired nationwide by China’s state broadcaster today. “We hope to ease worsening air pollution in a short period.”