Chinese envoy links economic slowdown to environment

Increasing concerns about environment in China could have been one of the reasons for its economic slowdown, Chinese ambassador Le Yucheng said on Monday.

Le is here to address Goan businessmen about the growing need for cooperation between the two countries and mutual business opportunities.

"We want to have a healthy economy. Not just increase quantity, but to improve quality. So we have limited factories polluting the environment," he said, when asked if growing environment consciousness could have led to a slowdown of the Chinese economy.

The ambassador also said that efforts by the Chinese government to clean its cities and environment were paying off.

"We are taking strong measures to combat air pollution. This year, the sky is much cleaner and better. It is a result of our systematic measures taken by our government, including reducing the emissions from factories and moving polluting factories out of cities or stopping production," he said.