China launches new round of central environmental inspections

Teams involved in China's high-profile central environmental inspection campaign will conduct monthlong inspections in seven provincial-level regions, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a news release on Thursday.

Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Guangdong provinces, the Guangxi Zhuang, Xizang and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, will be covered in the sixth batch of the third round of inspections, it said.

The inspections were launched following approval by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, in accordance with regulations on central ecological and environmental protection inspections, the release said.

Inspection teams are typically led by ministerial-level officials and report to a central leading group headed by a vice-premier of the State Council, the country's Cabinet.

The team assigned to Liaoning, for example, is headed by Cai Mingzhao, a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Xu Bijiu, vice-minister of ecology and environment, serves as deputy head of the team.

The release said each inspection team will establish a hotline and postal mailbox to receive public complaints and reports related to ecological and environmental protection issues.