China promises to clean up air ahead of 2022 winter games

Dec 22, 2015 China recently moved to reaffirm its promise to take steps in order to reduce air pollution in the run-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics.

This was announced after a choking pall of smog prompted the Chinese capital’s first ever red alert.

Speaking to this effect, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said:

“(We) will use greater determination, greater vigour and better moves to prevent air pollution in Zhangjiakou, the Beijing-Hebei-Tianjin region as well as the Yangtze River Delta area and the Pearl River Delta. Using concrete actions to bring down the PM 2.5 and PM 10 will gain the trust of the people,”

Beijing in July had defeated the Kazakh city of Almaty to win the 2022 Winter Olympics, after all the other cities which had considered bids dropped out. However, criticism over a lack of snow in Beijing and China’s poor human rights record have dogged the city’s bid to host the games