China appoints new party boss for environment ministry

China has appointed Chen Jining, the president of Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University, as party chief of its environment ministry, since the controversial current incumbent is retiring, the ministry said on its website on Wednesday. Chen, 51, an environmental specialist and a member of the National Environmental Advisory Commission with no previous government experience, replaces environment minister Zhou Shengxian. Zhou’s decade as China’s top environment official has coincided with the massive degradation of the nation’s environment, with surging industrial and energy output putting huge pressure on air, rivers and soil. Zhou replaced Xie Zhenhua, who resigned after a benzene plant explosion contaminated the water supplies of several million people in northeast China.
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