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Text of Premier Li's press conference

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2015-03-15 14:07:30

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Q: I am with the Hunffington Post. In Under the Dome, a documentary made by Chai Jing, she complained about the big oil companies like Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp, have been a block to the introduction of policies of environmental protection and law enforcement in this field.

For example, in the setting of quality standards of gasoline consumed as well as the introduction of wider use of natural gas.

My question is that is it true that the two companies are posing obstacles to the enforcement of environmental protection laws and policies? If so, what steps will the Chinese government take to remove the obstacle?

A: I understand the focus of all your questions is about tackling environmental pollution, especially the smog. this is a concern on top of most people's mind.

I want to tell you that the Chinese government is determined to tackle environmental pollution, and tremendous efforts have been made in this regard. The progress we have made still fall far short of expectation of our people. Last year I said that the Chinese government would declare a war against environmental pollution. We are determined to carry forward our efforts until we achieve our goal.

We must get the focus of our efforts right. This year our focus will be to ensure the full implementation of the newly revised environmental protection law.

For all illegal production and emissions, they will all be brought to justice and held accountable. We need to make the cost for pollution too high to bear. More support needs to be given to these environmental law enforcement departments, including capacity building.

No one can use his power to meddle with law enforcement in this regard. The law enforcement department should also have the courage to take charge and fulfill their due responsibilities.

Laxity in the law enforcement will be dealt with, and their relaxation of duties or abuse of office will be handled in accordance with the law. We must ensure that the law will work as a powerful and effective in fighting the pollution, instead of being soft as a Cotton Candy.

To tackle environmental pollution is a systematic effort that involves a lot of efforts and areas. A few days ago I came across a media report that said that in this year's government work report, the paragraph addressing the environmental treatment came quite in the back.

But I want to draw your attention to one big difference in this year's government work report. That is our targets for energy conservation and emission reduction are put together with all these major targets of economic and social development, which all come very early in the government work report.

And we also need to see that many parts of the report, be it adjusting the economic structure or improving the quality of fuel use, have something to do with environmental treatment.

This is going to take a process and requires the joint efforts of the whole society. It may be difficult to change the natural environmental he lives in any time soon, but one can always change the way he behaves. Thank you!

Text of Premier Li's press conference

Q: I am with CCTV. As China's economic development enters into a new normal, people are also thinking how we can bring our demographic scale and the growth trend compatible with such a new normal state.

And last year, married couples can have a second child if one of the parents is a single child.

And hence during this year's two sessions, many people are calling for fully lifting the second child restrictions. I am wondering if this is one of the goals on the agenda of the government in reforming its family planning policy and if so, is there a time table for that to happen?

A: About China's population policy, as you said last year, married couples can now have a second child if one of the parents is the single child.

Currently we are conducting a comprehensive review of how this policy has been implemented.

Based on the outcome of this comprehensive review, we will also take into account China's economic and social development situation and changes in our demographic structure.

Both the pros and the cons will be weighed, and we will only make improvements, adjustments to our policy in accordance with all these legal procedure. Thank you.