Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region aims for 'APEC Blue'
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E-mail CNTV, August 7, 2015
Beijing, along with Tianjin municipality and Hebei province, a region referred to as "Jing-Jin-Ji", are coming together to improve air quality for the September military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
And now, with Beijing having been chosen as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the focus really is on improving air quality as soon as possible.
The skies over Beijing in November last year were clear blue during the APEC Meetings. But the question on everyone's mind was: How long will this last?
The latest official figures show that Beijing's air quality has improved since 2014.
PM2.5 density in Beijing and its neighboring regions decreased by 14.6 percent in 2014. And Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei's average PM2.5 density has dropped by 22.1 percent in the first half of 2015, compared to the same period last year.
"The air pollution in Beijing is not just about our own city, it is about the whole region," said Ma Jun, director of Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs.
Ma has been monitoring the air quality of more than cities in China. He says the initiative to integrate Beijing and its neighbors will help join up efforts to tackle air pollution.
Urging coordination and integration, the initiative seeks to balance development, the environment, population and resources. Experts say that information sharing is one of the key factors to curb air pollution.
Beijing will spend 460 million yuan (US$74 million) this year to help curb pollution in Hebei's Baoding and Langfang. Tianjin meanwhile has signed an anti-pollution agreement with Tangshan and Cangzhou.
The fund from Beijing will be shared 50-50 by the two cities to help them phase out small-scale coal-fueled boilers, upgrade larger boilers and cut coal consumption by 770,000 tonnes in total.
"The imbalanced development between Beijing and its neighbors," Ma said.
The implementation of the strategy is at the top of the work agenda for the Beijing Municipal Government in 2015.
The city will lay out the annual task list for transportation infrastructure integration, ecological and environmental protection and industrial transfer, so as to make new progress as soon as possible.
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