New Beijing Chief Vows to Finally Win Fight Against Pollution
- Non-essential entities and polluters need to be relocated
- Capital’s destiny ‘evermore intertwined’ with ruling party
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Beijing’s new top official vowed to tackle the city’s smog problem, a simmering cause of discontent among China’s expanding middle class.
Cai Qi, the Communist Party chief in the capital, told a gathering of local delegates Monday that the metropolis of 22 million must slash pollution levels to “win the battle against pollution.” He pledged to cut levels of the most hazardous airborne particulate by 30 percent over the next five years, while pushing polluters and “non-essential” services out to “display the image of a major country’s capital city.”