Seven steps toward the Chinese dream

2. Environmental protection

Since taking office, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have pledged many times to better protect the environment, reaffirming the importance of balancing economic development and environmental protection.

"Those who made rash decisions regardless of the ecological environment, resulting in serious consequences, must be brought to account, and should be held accountable for a lifetime," Xi said in May at a group study session attended by senior Party officials.

"Prevention should always come first ... Pollution prevention and control of water, air and soil should be stressed. Pollution control in key river basins and airborne pollution treatment in key areas and industries should be promoted."

The comment is seen by environmental experts as setting out a clear path that can help improve the environment in China and highlighting that all measures should be legally enforced, according to Meng Wei, head of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

The central government's environmental strategy reached an important stage in September 2013 when the State Council issued the Airborne Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (2013-17), a tough move to improve poor air quality, with clear emission reduction targets accompanied by punishments for officials who fail to meet the targets.

To help realize the action plan, the latest moves include 22 policies hammered out by the Environmental Protection Ministry and other ministries to be carried out in the near future, 10 of which are economic-related.

The central government has also set up a special fund of 5 billion yuan ($813.5 million) in 2013, which is due to grow to 10 billion yuan this year, to reward efforts to curb air pollution in the key areas with the most frequent smog and haze.