BEIJING — Vice-Premier Han Zheng has stressed continued efforts to push forward inspections by the central authorities on local environmental protection work.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks on Feb 22 while chairing a meeting on the inspection of environmental protection efforts.

He underscored solid efforts on the inspection work by coordinating development and security and implementing the new development philosophy fully and faithfully.

The vice-premier called for focusing on solving problems and grasping the key issues to promote the work of central environmental inspections.

Inspectors should have the courage to tackle tough problems and strictly deal with prominent issues that have seriously damaged the environment and harmed the interests of the people, said Han.

He emphasized completing the inspections and rectification tasks thoroughly, as well as making persistent efforts in carrying out the next batch of inspections.