Lack of long-term pollution control behind heavy smog

With weather conditions ripe for this year's heaviest smog, residents in Beijing and other cities in North China expected the worst when a red alert was issued for five days from last Saturday to Wednesday. Yet the suffocating blanket of pollution that the capital has experienced in the past has failed to materialize this time thanks to the emergency measures taken following the red alert.

The severity of the city's air pollution has been greatly tempered with more than 1,000 factories suspending production and an alternating restriction on private vehicles depending on whether the last number on the license plate is odd or even. This is the price that has to be paid for the debt that has been accumulated for a lack of past efforts.

But the temporary strict measures cannot be taken as the fundamental way to end air pollution. In dire need are efforts to eliminate the source of pollution for good.