On Feb. 3, Minister Chen Jining chaired a thematic meeting to analyze and estimate the air pollution control trends in the first quarter of the year and make plans for the next stage. Vice Ministers Zhai Qing and Zhao Yingmin were presented at the meeting. Heads of the Ministry’s relevant internal departments and affiliated institutions as well as leading officials concerned with Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau attended the meeting.

On Feb. 6, the 32nd meeting of the Central Leading Team for Comprehensively Deepening the Reforms deliberated and adopted the Plan on the Pilot Projects on Establishing Basin-specific Environmental Regulation and Enforcement Institutions.

Feb. 7, XINHUA-The General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council printed and distributed recently Some Opinions on Delineating and Strictly Observing the Ecological Conservation Red Lines.

On Feb. 10, MEP and MHURD signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei on advancing the cooperation on the National Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Governance in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, and a memorandum of understanding with the people’s government of Jiangsu Province on advancing the cooperation on the said program in Taihu Lake basin. Vice Minister Huang Runqiu spoke at the signing ceremony.

On Feb. 12, MEP printed and distributed the Plan for Ranking the Cities by the Changes in Ambient Air Quality.

On Feb. 16, Vice Minister Liu Hua went to Hainan Province for an inspection tour on nuclear and radiation safety regulation.

On Feb. 17, Minister Chen Jining went to Beijing Municipal Vehicle Emission Control Center for an inspection.

Between Feb. 19 and 20, Minister Chen Jining went to Baoding Municipality of Hebei Province to launch the thematic inspection on air quality in the first quarter of 2017. Chen went on a field trip to Lixian County, Boye County and Anxin County in Baoding to investigate the upgrading of boilers in industries and the pollution discharge by small enterprise clusters. He also chaired a symposium and put forward requirements for the city’s air pollution control effort.

On Feb. 22, MEP held a teleconference in Beijing to make deployments for the thematic inspection on air quality in the first quarter. Minister Chen Jining chaired and delivered remarks at the meeting. Vice Minister Zhao Yingmin presented at the meeting. Hebei Provincial Environmental Protection Department and some of the inspection teams briefed on their latest work progress.

Vice Minister Zhao Yingmin chaired a news briefing at which he told the news press certain issues about air pollution control and responded to the questions raised by the journalists.

On Feb. 23, Minister Chen Jining chaired a thematic meeting to analyze and estimate the recent air quality trends in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and adjacent area and make deployments for the next stage. Leading officials concerned with the Ministry’s internal departments and affiliated institutions participated.

MEP printed and distributed the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Environmental Protection-Environment and Health.

On Feb. 24, Minister Chen Jining went to Shijiazhuang for a thematic inspection on local air quality in the first quarter of the year. He went on field trips to check how well the enterprises have operated their air pollution control facilities and upgraded their boilers, and how the small enterprise clusters have emitted pollution. He also chaired a symposium.

On Feb. 27, MEP and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) jointly held in Beijing the inception meeting of the national survey and assessment of the changes in ecological conditions (2010-2015). MEP Vice Minister Huang Runqiu and CAS Vice President Zhang Yaping signed the MEP-CAS Agreement on Sharing Ecological Data.

On Feb. 28, the ninth meeting of the cooperation team on area-wide air pollution control in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding area was held in Beijing. A member of the Politburo and Secretary of the CPC Beijing municipal committee Guo Jinlong, MEP Minister Chen Jining, Mayor of Beijing municipal government Cai Qi, and Governor of Hebei Province Zhang Qingwei attended the meeting.