Toby – agree that words don’t automatically need action, but the faction that is (it appears) on the up in Chinese Communist politics does seem (to me) to be giving the environment more emphasis, which is good even if not at a level where we say “great!”. Will also be interesting to see how the modest democratic noises play out in the internal politics.

The CPC been paying lip service to environmental protection for years and a large number of Chinese cities are pretty seriously polluted. As you rightly suggest, action speaks louder than words. The words are warm but the actions continue to be lacking. China has generally looked to others to help it clean up it’s mess e.g. the EU and individual member states.