A senior Chinese official has called for stricter controls of industrial safety along with more efforts to eliminate hidden problems, which may lead to large-scale industrial accidents.
Vice Premier Wu Bangguo, who is also member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks at the third meeting of the safe production committee under the State Council, which was convened here Monday.
It aims to ensure the safety of people's life and property, so as to create a sound social environment for the successful convening of the upcoming 16th CPC National Congress, Wu said.
Industrial safety has improved on the whole, he said, but there remains cause for concern, as some problems that may cause major accidents still exist and major industrial accidents still occur occasionally, he said.
Wu urged local authorities to launch a safety inspection to step up supervision on the issue, and to seriously study and abide by the Law on Safe Production.
(People's Daily September 24, 2002)