BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- China held 1,035 officials accountable over environmental issues following the fourth round of investigation by central inspectors, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said Monday.
The inspection team investigated eight provincial-level regions from August to September 2017, including provinces of Jilin, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hainan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Of the environmental problems investigated, 44 percent were related to the failure of local governments to fulfill their obligations. For instance, some environmental protection work was found to have been pushed forward slowly or not pushed forward at all.
The inspection also listed other problems such as policy decision and approval against related laws and regulations, and failure to fulfill obligations due to passing the buck.
In addition, the ministry also disclosed seven typical cases during the inspection, including severe deterioration of water quality in the Liao River in Jilin Province and illegal land reclamation in Zhejiang Province.
China has vowed to push forward more environmentally-friendly development over the years with greater efforts on inspection and punishment for environmental violations.
