China says slowing economy won't stop anti-pollution efforts

In recent years, the Chinese government has changed tack as it tries to move away from an economy dependent on heavy industry to a more sustainable one based on domestic consumption and services.

Today, China is aiming to transform its economic development model and pursue "economic quality, but also environmental quality," Chen told a news conference during an annual meeting of the country's legislature.

"Only when those polluters bow out of the market will it be possible to set aside some development space for good companies to focus on innovation and improving product quality, and to avoid the phenomenon of 'bad money driving out good' in our development," said Chen.

China's slowing growth, attempts to refocus its economy on services and long-term efforts to get rid of overcapacity in industries including coal and steel are helping to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Last week, the environment ministry announced it was setting up three separate agencies to deal with air, soil and water pollution, rather than trying to manage all three together.