New round of pollution inspections begins

The country's top environmental watchdog will dispatch about 18,000 law enforcement officers to conduct air pollution control inspections in three key areas starting on Monday.

Last year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection - which has since been incorporated into the Ministry of Ecology and Environment - sent 5,600 law enforcement officers to 28 major cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to inspect air pollution control work.

This year, the inspection, dubbed "Blue Sky Protection Campaign", will be extended to the Yangtze River Delta and the Fenhe and Weihe plains in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, respectively. The campaign is scheduled to last until the end of April 2019.