BEIJING - The United States urged China on Tuesday to clean up its environment ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as China's top environmental agency warned Beijing citizens to stay home to avoid serious air pollution.
US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson warned China that the world was watching its environmental protection efforts in the lead-up to the Beijing Games.
"The eyes of the world are on China as we approach the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and the Expo in Shanghai in 2010," Johnson said during a speech at Beijing's Qinghua University.
"More environmental protection progress can and must occur."
Johnson said more stringent enforcement of central government environmental policy and legislation was required regionally and urged greater cooperation between China's levels of government -- central, provincial and local.
Johnson spoke as smoggy skies hung over Beijing and the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) issued health warnings provoked by high air pollution exacerbated by sandstorms across northern China.
Beijing's number of "blue sky" days in the first three months of this year -- a state measure of relatively low pollution days -- is at its lowest in five years, SEPA reported on its Web site.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
