Xinhua News Agency, Shijiazhuang, May 23 (Reporter Gong Zhihong, Gao Bo) In recent years, every autumn and winter, smog weather has become a "heart and lung disease" that plagues Hebei. Among the bottom ten air quality rankings of 74 cities in China, Hebei occupies 5 to 7 seats every year.

　　After five years of treatment, the average concentration of PM2.5 in Hebei Province in 2017 was 65 μ g/m3, which was 39.8% lower than that in 2013, exceeding the target set by the national "Atmosphere Ten".

　　Curettage of bone to cure poison: open the knife to structural pollution

　　"Last November, we shut down two production lines." Li Bingchen, Minister of Environmental Protection Department of Great Wall Glass Co., Ltd. in Shahe City, Hebei Province, told reporters that last year was the best time for the glass market. Taking the initiative to shut down is tantamount to cutting the meat and gouging out the heart, but if environmental protection is not enough, it may drag down the development of the whole company.

　　Glass industry is the pillar industry of Shahe. At present, Shahe has an annual output of 160 million weight boxes of flat glass, accounting for about 20% of the national total. Zhang Lige, deputy director of Shahe Branch of Xingtai Environmental Protection Bureau, said that due to the agglomeration of glass enterprises, Shahe is facing great environmental pressure. Therefore, Shahe has implemented stricter emission standards than the national standards. The national emission standards for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the glass industry are 400 mg/m3 and 700 mg/m3 respectively, and the local standards have been raised to 50 mg/m3 and 200 mg/m3 respectively.

　　The emphasis on industrial energy structure is the fundamental reason for air pollution in Hebei. The emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and smoke dust from steel, cement, electricity and other industries account for 75.7%, 87.2% and 87.5% of the province’s industrial emissions respectively, which are important sources of air pollution.

　　Since 2013, Hebei has taken structural adjustment as a fundamental solution with the courage to cure poison by scraping the bones, and has played a "combination boxing" such as reducing coal, managing enterprises and controlling vehicles, and vigorously promoted air pollution control.

　　Qian Li, vice governor of Hebei Province, said that Hebei formulated and implemented stricter national standards. From 2013 to 2017, the province reduced the steel-making capacity by 69.93 million tons, coal by 31.44 million tons, cement by 70.57 million tons and glass by 71.73 million weight boxes, all exceeding the national targets.

　　In view of the chronic pollution caused by the energy structure of "one coal dominates", Hebei launched a "tough battle against coal", and completed a total of 3.278 million households replacing coal with gas and electricity in rural areas, contributing 44% to the improvement of the average concentration of PM2.5 during the heating period.

　　Due to historical reasons, many counties and districts in Hebei have formed the phenomenon of "scattered and polluted" enterprises clustered together, which has an important impact on the environment. In 2017, Hebei cleaned up and rectified 108,000 "scattered and polluted" enterprises in accordance with the principles of shutting down and banning a batch, integrating and relocating a batch and upgrading a batch.

　　Scientific Haze Control: "Civil air defense+technical defense" laid tight encirclement.

　　There are many sources of pollution, and the grass-roots environmental protection law enforcement power is limited, which is a common problem in Hebei’s air pollution control. To this end, Hebei implements expert guidance, scientific treatment of haze, and implements "civil air defense+technical defense" to strengthen environmental supervision.

　　There are more than 50,000 environmental supervision enterprises in Hengshui, but there are only 513 grassroots environmental law enforcement personnel. The city has established a "two networks and two systems" intelligent platform for air governance to realize real-time monitoring of air quality and major pollution sources in the region. Once the pollutants exceed the standard, the system will automatically alarm and transmit the point information to the mobile phone of law enforcement officers.

　　"The automatic monitoring network of pollution sources not only establishes corresponding monitoring facilities for special factors emitted by different pollution sources, but also records electricity in separate tables for enterprise production facilities and pollution control facilities to realize full monitoring of pollution nodes." He Litao, director of Hengshui Environmental Protection Bureau, introduced.

　　At present, 143 counties (cities, districts) in Hebei have taken the lead in achieving full coverage of monitoring points throughout the country. Hebei proposed that this year, all monitoring stations in towns and development zones above the provincial level and infrared monitoring of open burning will be fully covered. Fully implement the three-level grid supervision of counties and villages, and realize the full coverage of the construction of township environmental protection institutes.

　　In the past five years, Hebei has strengthened the top-level design and intensively issued a series of guiding documents on air pollution prevention and control. In 2017, the 1+18 plan for air pollution control was formulated, covering all aspects of air pollution control such as industrial structure optimization, industrial enterprise governance, clean heating transformation, urban and rural greening and expansion. Twenty-nine departments of cities and provincial governments in Hebei set up "1+18" policy system promotion agencies, established a list of tasks, responsibilities and time limits, and formed a strong synergy for tackling pollution.

　　Iron fist pollution control: opening up the "last mile" of environmental protection

　　In order to solve the "last mile" problem of haze control, Hebei took the lead in establishing a provincial-level environmental protection supervision system in the country by drawing lessons from the central supervision model, taking the ineffective implementation of haze control measures as an important part of the provincial party Committee’s supervision accountability, and introducing air quality notification ranking and reward and punishment accountability methods.

　　The cities and counties that failed to achieve the air quality improvement target in 2017 were publicly exposed in the TV media, and one county magistrate and four deputy county magistrates were dismissed. The province gave 2,107 disciplinary actions to the party and government due to poor governance.

　　In order to severely crack down on illegal sewage discharge, since September 2017, Hebei has made full use of the reform results of vertical management of monitoring, supervision and law enforcement of environmental protection agencies below the provincial level, coordinated environmental monitoring, law enforcement and monitoring forces at the provincial, municipal and county levels, and adopted different law enforcement and cross-enforcement methods to continuously carry out five rounds of special inspectors and law enforcement inspections for comprehensive air pollution control.

　　Zhang Guisheng, Environmental Inspector of Hebei Provincial Environmental Protection Department, said that in 2017, the province filed a total of 22,060 cases of environmental violations, with a penalty amount of 1.109 billion yuan, up by 192% and 153% respectively compared with 2016, ranking third and second respectively in the country.

　　Unremitting treatment, in exchange for frequent blue sky. In January and February of 2017, the cumulative concentration of PM2.5 in Hebei was as high as 114 μ g/m3, a year-on-year rebound of 46%; By December 31st, the concentration reached 65 μ g/m3, and the concentration decreased by 7.1% simultaneously.

　　Hebei proposed that in 2018, a three-year operational plan for air pollution control will be formulated to ensure that air quality "changes every year and achieves great results in three years", and strive to make Shijiazhuang, Hengshui and Tangshan take the lead in withdrawing from the last 10 air quality rankings of 74 cities across the country.

　　On January 14, members of the National Guard in the Capitol area in Washington, DC, USA.

　　On January 17, local time, the 72-hour countdown to the inauguration ceremony of the new US President Biden has entered. During the field visit, the reporter saw that Washington, the capital of the United States, which has been in shock since the riots on Capitol Hill, is now "fully armed". The White House, the Capitol and other places are "heavily guarded", and security facilities such as fences and roadblocks are common in the city center. Under the double shadow of the threat of violence and the spread of the epidemic, officials in Washington and nearby States have a suggestion for the American people who have the idea of viewing the ceremony — — Don’t come.

　　like confronting a formidable or mortal enemy—be on one’s guard against all possible dangers

　　The United States is fully guarded by land, sea and air.

　　"I’ve never seen this before."

　　The violent attack of demonstrators on the capitol on January 6 undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to Washington’s psychological defense. The early warning of possible violent demonstrations before and after the inauguration ceremony has made Washington highly alert. Washington has continuously upgraded its security measures in the past few days and has entered a state of emergency since January 11.

　　In this case, the "nerve" of security work continues to be stimulated. According to local media reports, on January 15th, local time, the police arrested a man driving a truck at a checkpoint near the Capitol and found that he was carrying a pistol full of bullets, with more than 500 bullets in it and a forged document.

　　At present, downtown Washington is quite like a heavily guarded military base, with many soldiers, fences and roadblocks.

　　The U.S. Department of Defense said on January 15th that as many as 25,000 National Guard members have been authorized to assist in the security work of the inauguration ceremony of the President. This scale is equivalent to five times the total number of US troops currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

　　The Capitol and the White House are undoubtedly the two "key protection objects" related to Biden’s inauguration ceremony on January 20. The reporter saw that the Capitol, the White House and the nearby main sections have been surrounded by high fences to prevent climbing and roadblocks. Some major intersections have military personnel on duty and military vehicles parked, and security checks are provided for personnel and vehicles.

　　National mall, which is located between the Capitol and the White House, is closed for a week from January 15th. Washington Monument, the highest landmark in Washington, was closed from January 11th to 24th. Thirteen subway stations and several bus lines near the White House and the Capitol will be temporarily closed.

　　500 meters away from the North Gate of the White House, it can be seen that members of the American National Guard are fully armed to guard the intersection. 14th Street, not far from the White House, was originally quite busy, with restaurants, cafes and bars on both sides of the street, but there were few people this weekend. Many building doors and windows are nailed with wooden boards to prevent violence.

　　A passerby told reporters: "I have never seen this battle."

　　The capitals of 50 States in the United States are ready to respond to the demonstrations of Trump supporters. California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all started the National Guard, and Texas directly closed the capital, and some States prohibited carrying weapons … … Each state has launched a variety of security measures to ensure safety during the inauguration ceremony.

　　According to Politico, the transportation modes of land, sea and air have all strengthened security. Major airlines are now banned from carrying guns, and alcohol services on board are suspended. The airport has opened a safe passage to protect officials from the threat of crowds. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also issued new regulations on high fines and even imprisonment for passengers in advance. In addition, trains and subways have taken corresponding measures such as closing stations or strengthening security forces.

　　Serious epidemic situation

　　The National Guard has no COVID-19 test plan.

　　The number of infected people is bound to increase further.

　　According to CNN, in order to ensure the security of the capital during the inauguration ceremony, the Pentagon authorized about 25,000 National Guards to travel to Washington. However, when this large number of personnel were dispatched, it was also the time when the United States had the largest number of deaths in the COVID-19 epidemic. According to Johns Hopkins University, in the first two weeks of 2021, that is, the first half of January, there were more than 3.2 million new cases in the United States.

　　A spokesman for the National Guard told CNN that most of the more than 20,000 National Guards had not been tested for COVID-19 before or after they were deployed from various states in the United States to Washington, D.C.. The spokesman said that the COVID-19 test for members of the National Guard was conducted "on a case-by-case basis", and those who had symptoms or had been exposed to Covid-19 were encouraged to take the test, but there was no extensive requirement. The existing screening procedures include temperature detection and screening inquiry. When the task to be performed allows, wearing a mask and social distance will also be carried out accordingly.

　　However, as we all know, asymptomatic infected people will also spread the virus. Without extensive testing, it is difficult to confirm whether any of these more than 20 thousand people carry the virus. In the event of a riot like January 6, it is impossible to maintain social distance.

　　According to the US Military Times, as of the afternoon of 15th local time, 43 of the more than 7,000 national guards in Washington have tested positive for Covid-19. As more national guards gather from all over the United States, the number of infected people is bound to increase further.

　　Jon harris, Major General of the Ohio National Guard, recently publicly expressed his worries: "I want to remind you that these National Guard people we called to work were doing other tasks the other day and had no idea that they would come to Washington. Bringing these people together is a real worry for us. "

　　Greater threat

　　There are "lone wolf" extremists recently.

　　Far more intense "counterattack"?

　　According to The Wall Street Journal, with the dramatic escalation of security measures in Washington, D.C. and state capitals, extremist organizations have also changed their strategies, which means that "lone wolf" extremists will become a greater threat in the next period of time, and it also means that a more intense "counterattack" may be ushered in for a longer period of time in the future.

　　It is reported that far-right organizations such as "Pride Boy" and "The Oathkeepers" who participated in the riots on January 6 urged their followers to avoid major cities with strong security forces at present, or to keep a "low profile" completely and avoid large-scale gatherings, or to gather outside the state capital.

　　However, these people still oppose the incoming new government team. Under the recent tight security, "lone wolf" extremists are difficult to monitor and pose the greatest threat. In the longer term, when the security deployment is relaxed, these far-right groups may become more aggressive in the next few months.

　　In an email sent on the 13th, the leaders of "Promise Keepers" also called the incoming president "illegal", demanded "assembly now" and reminded them to assemble near the state capital.

　　Enrique Tario, the leader of "Pride Boy", said in an interview on 15th that he is now considering some demonstrations that are "more effective, with fewer people, but can create more sparks", and may also participate in some non-violent activities, such as disturbing politicians’ speeches at rallies.

　　The Chinese Embassy in the United States "strongly reminds"

　　In addition to Washington, DC, many States in the United States have also stepped up their prevention against possible local violence before and after the inauguration ceremony of the president.

　　The Chinese Embassy in the United States issued an important notice on January 15, strongly reminding citizens and institutions in China to pay attention to the social security and epidemic situation in the United States:

　　At present, the security situation in the United States is extremely grim. Washington, D.C. has declared a state of emergency. The National Guard has deployed large-scale forces to safeguard the security of the capital, and various states have taken corresponding security measures to varying degrees. The social security situation is highly worrying. Recently, a citizen of China who is studying for a doctorate was shot and killed innocently. The epidemic situation in the United States is still developing, the number of confirmed cases and deaths has reached record highs, and mutant viruses are constantly appearing. The Embassy of China in the United States once again reminds citizens and institutions in China to raise their awareness of safety protection, pay close attention to local public security and epidemic situation, be vigilant and avoid going to demonstrations, assemblies and other gathering areas.

　　Know more about the news

　　On January 20th, Biden’s inauguration ceremony will be held in the Capitol as usual.

　　Trump has made it clear that he will not attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony. Although this is not the first time in history that the outgoing president missed the inauguration ceremony of his successor, it is also the first time in more than 150 years.

　　In the past, there was a presidential inauguration parade after the inauguration ceremony, which could March along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, but this link will probably shrink this year.

　　An activity was added before the inauguration this year, and a ceremony was planned to be held in the reflection pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the evening of January 19th to mourn the American people who lost their lives in the COVID-19 epidemic.

　　Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star Journalist Lin Rong Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency