Thirdly, China has taken the road of socialism, and the traditional Chinese culture is a culture of harmony. That means China will never practice any form of eco-colonialism. The only correct path for us is to pursue a sustainable development, namely a path of peaceful and environment-friendly development.

Q: Did the SEPA seek international experience and cooperation in China's Green GDP calculation?

A: In China's Green GDP calculation, we have tried to ensure consistency in concepts, definitions and classifications of its indicators with the System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA), which is promoted by the UN Statistics Division.

At the same time, we have worked closely with the international community.

The World Bank set up a special technical support program to help research the Green GDP accounting, which was concluded last month. We also received encouragement and support during our work from the UN Statistics Division, the United Nations Environment Programme, the European Union, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands.

Q: The SEPA last Thursday named 82 projects with a total investment of 112.3 billion yuan ($14.44 billion) that failed to pass environment appraisal and suspended appraisals for all the new projects in four cities, and for four of the country's major power groups. The media described the move as another "environmental protection storm". What do you think?

A: No matter what it is labeled, my judgment criteria is that: if each time we can solve new problems and help set up new systems, then it is of significance.

If it cannot solve a problem or establish a system merely to serve the whims of the media, then it is meaningless and will be soon forgotten.

Two years ago, the SEPA issued an interim regulation on public participation in environment appraisal. A regulation on environment appraisal was also submitted to the Office of Legislative Affairs of the State Council.

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