Some Remarks on a Proposed Special Legislation for Law Enforcement in the Bohai Area

LI Bingqiang

Some Remarks on a Proposed Special Legislation for Law Enforcement in the Bohai Area

LI Bingqiang*

There are three types of law enforcement systems:enforcementcentralized systems,enforcement-decentralized systems,and systems that combine the centralized and decentralized enforcement systems.The establishment of an enforcement system for the Special Law of the Bohai Sea should be based on the natural characteristics of the Bohai Sea,the objective reality of environmental problems,as well as experiences and lessons drawn from past environmental governance of the Bohai Sea.As the enforcement authorities of Special Law,the Integrated Management Committee of Bohai Sea is the primary decision-making body;meanwhile the Integrated Management Executive Committee carries out the duties of a permanent enforcement body;the Joint Council of the River Basin provides advice during the decision-making process.Each organ plays its own important role in protecting the environment,resources and ecology of the Bohai Sea.

Bohai;Special law;Enforcement system;Establishment

The life of law is in enforcement.Only through effective law enforcement can the objective of a law be realized.The enforcement of the Special Law of the Bohai Sea not only relies on a scientifically-sound framework within the Special Law itself and the general recognition of the Law by the public,but also cannot do without a good enforcement system.Only law enforcement by a special and highly authoritative agency or department can influence people’s thinking and prevent unwanted behaviors,thus achieving the regulatory purpose of the law.Therefore,how to scientifically and reasonably establish the enforce-ment system of the Special Law of the Bohai Sea is of great significance to the effective enforcement of said law and an important guarantee for realizing the legislative purpose of the Special Law.

Ⅰ.Basic Modes of Law Enforcement Systems

Generally there are three types of law enforcement systems:enforcementcentralized systems,enforcement-decentralized systems,and those that combine centralized and decentralized characteristics.

The term“enforcement-centralized system”refers to a one-tiered enforcement authority with specific area coverage and independent operations centering on specific administrative affairs.Enforcement power is centralized,and in like manner,such an authority implements a comprehensive enforcement system with centralized management.The distinguishing characteristic of this system is its centralized enforcement mode and one unitary authority covering all affairs.The advantage of this enforcement system lies in its ability to conduct overall planning and coordinated management over specific affairs in view of the overall situation,so as to improve decision-making and enforcement efficiency.

The enforcement-decentralized system refers to an enforcement system based on the needs of departmental division and specialized management of specific affairs.Enforcement powers are decentralized through the assignment of various affairs to different levels and different departments for management.In practice,decentralized enforcement occurs in two ways:firstly,decentralization of levels,that is,the enforcement power is executed respectively by corresponding management authorities of different authority levels.Currently,the far majority of legislation in China speaks to such an enforcement system.Secondly,decentralization of departments,or in other words,the enforcement power is executed by different departments,each of which forms its own independent law enforcement system.The enforcement system established by the Marine Environment Protection Law and the Water Pollution Prevention Law may be cited as one example of this process in action.As China has a vast territory and conditions vary from place to place,establishing localized law enforcement agencies and allocating law enforcement power in such a manner meets the national conditions and present reality of China.This method also allows for the concerted mobilization across numerous departments and regions,producing rather broad-based participation in the management of a certain affair.Howev-er,for some isolated issues,such as water pollution control within a river basin or region,due to the special nature and complexity of the pollution problem itself,it is often difficult to achieve ideal prevention and control if law enforcement is executed by different departments or different levels of the same department.

The combined centralized/decentralized enforcement system incorporates allocation of enforcement power features from both the enforcement-centralized and enforcement-decentralized systems.One example of this type of system has arisen out of China’s efforts to protect and manage its water resources and marine habitats.In terms of water resource development,utilization and protection,the enforcement-centralized system characterized by watershed management is implemented;in terms of water pollution prevention and control and protection of the marine environment,it is the decentralized enforcement system that prevails.This management method,compared with the pure decentralized enforcement system,has its advantage in that it manages water resources of whole river basins as basic units.However,the intrinsic interrelation between water resources and the marine environment is in effect ignored; the two are artificially separated and,consequently,managed and protected by different departments.In this way integrated protection and management of water resources and the marine environment cannot be realized.

Ⅱ.Factors to be Considered in Establishing the Execution System for the Special Law of Bohai Sea

The establishment of the enforcement system of the Special Law of the Bohai Sea should not be based on the prevailing bureaucrat-expansionist tendency of the existing enforcement authority nor on the personal preference of the researcher,but should be based on the legislative purpose of the Special Law of the Bohai Sea,the natural and geographic circumstances of the Bohai Sea region,the objective reality of the ecological and environmental problems facing the Bohai Sea region,and should draw on the accumulation of past experience and lessons of environmental governance in the Bohai Sea.Specifically, the establishment of the enforcement system of the Special Law of the Bohai Sea should focus on the following factors:

A.The Legislative Purpose of Special Law of the Bohai Sea

It is not that no law exists for environmental pollution prevention and control,sustainable utilization of resources,and ecological protection in the Bohai Sea:China has already passed laws applicable to Bohai Sea.According to statistics,there are at least 75 pieces of legislation involving environmental resources and ecological protection of the Bohai Sea,including the Marine Environment Law.Provided that much legislation is already available,why should a separate law be formulated specially for the Bohai Sea?An important reason is that the existing legislation cannot effectively cope with the increasingly urgent environmental pollution and ecological destruction within the Bohai Sea. That is to say,the existing laws and regulatory system are seriously ill-suited to addressing the crisis facing the Bohai Sea.This weakness arises from various causes:first,existing legislation is mainly based on departmental or administrative regions,and the Bohai Sea management system is no exception.Such a fragmented management system undermines the implementation of an integrated management approach over the ecological system of the Bohai Sea.The Special Law of the Bohai Sea defines the Bohai Sea as a unique geographical region,for which a separate law shall be formulated,treating Bohai Sea as an integrated ecological entity.The Special Law aims both to overcome the“Tragedy of the Commons”and“the Hitchhiking Effect”that currently beleaguer the Bohai environmental management system and to resolve inconsistencies between different regions and departments concerning environmental protection policy and objectives in the Bohai Sea.These measures will aid in realizing integrated management over the environment of the entire Bohai Sea region.

B.The Overall Natural Attributes of the Bohai Sea Area

In terms of geographical environment,as the only semi-enclosed sea on the west bank of the Pacific Ocean and the continental margin of China,the Bohai Sea is,relatively speaking,isolated from other sea areas.It features relative completeness in terms of environment and ecology,constituting an independent environmental unit,or macro-ecosystem.According to one commentator,“Environmental integrity determines the integrity of environmental affairs,whether this kind of affair is to protect the environment or to manage the environ-ment…all must be completed by a centralized institution.”①Xu Xiangmin,Several Thoughts on Transfer System of Pollution Discharge Right(Chinese),Environmental Protection,Vol.12,2002,p.8.However,due to historical,economic,cultural or military causes,a nation tends to divide geographical regions into different administrative jurisdictions,which often do not perfectly correspond to the naturally developed environmental areas.For example,the administrative jurisdictions attached to the specific environmental area of the Bohai Sea not only include provinces such as Liaoning,Hebei,Tianjin and Shandong,but also provinces located in three distinct major river basins,the Liaohe,Haihe and Yellow River basins,which has led to the situation that law enforcement and affair management of the Bohai Sea Area are conducted by provincial,municipal and regional authorities in a decentralized manner. However,“the natural attributes of the environment determine that the significance of artificial administrative jurisdiction in terms of environmental protection is not very important.The relationship between man and nature reflected by environmental problems requires us to break the bounds of administrative division and to take certain river basins,sea areas or other environmental areas developed naturally as an environmental unit,which is at the same time a protection unit.”②Xu Xiangmin,Several Thoughts on Transfer System of Pollution Discharge Right(Chinese),Environmental Protection,Vol.12,2002,p.8.The trans-basin and trans-administrative-region attributes of the Bohai Sea require that in selecting an enforcement system for the Special Law of the Bohai Sea,we establish a centralized,highly authoritative,trans-departmental,trans-administrative and trans-basin enforcement institution.Only in this way can the hurdle of local protectionism be overcome and holistic,comprehensive protection of the Bohai Sea area’s ecological environment be realized.

C.The Objective Reality of the Ecological and Environmental Problems of the Bohai Sea Area

In recent years,the Bohai Sea coastal area has been a hot spot for economic development in China,and the rapid industrial development of urbanization along the coastal area has exerted huge pressure on the marine environment of the Bohai Sea.The environmental pollution of the near-shore sea area is very serious and the conflict between marine resource development and environmen-tal protection has been increasingly salient.According to the data of the“2009 Bohai Sea Marine Environment Bulletin”,the total marine area of the Bohai Sea that sustained serious pollution in 2009 was reduced from that of the previous year,but near-shore sea area pollution remained heavy.In particular,the landbased pollutant emissions from riparian industries continue to far exceed the stipulated standards.In 2009,75%of the monitored pollutant-discharge outlets along the coast of the Bohai Sea exceeded stipulated emission standards. The offending pollutants were mainly suspended solids,BOD5,total phosphorus and CODCr.In the vicinity of pollutant-discharge outlets under intensive monitoring,the water quality of some 73%of the surrounding sea area did not meet the requirements of marine functional area,and roughly 40%was classified as below Class IV sea water quality(Class IV quality is suitable for marine port waters and marine development operation zone).The main pollutants entering the Bohai Sea from rivers as monitored in 2009 were CODCr,oils,ammonia nitrogen,phosphate salt and heavy metals etc.,totaling 940 thousand tons.

From such data,we can see that land-based pollution is a major cause of environmental pollution in the Bohai Sea.The sources of terrestrial pollutants of the Bohai Sea fall into two categories according to location:firstly,pollutant discharge from 13 cities along the coast of the Bohai Sea;secondly,pollutant discharge from the upstream cities of the Bohai Sea coastal area.The latter, more inland sources discharge pollutants into the Bohai Sea via three major water systems:the Liaohe,Haihe and Yellow Rivers.This being the case,it is obvious that to mitigate pollution in the Bohai Sea Area one must overcome the local,passive,reactionary traditional environmental governance model that tends to treat only symptoms but never gets to the root of the problem.Efforts to improve environmental protection in the Bohai Sea should not be limited in scope to the Bohai Sea only,or to the Bohai Sea itself as well as its surrounding provinces,yet pay no heed to upstream provinces and cities that may actually exert direct impact on the environment,resources and ecology of the Bohai Sea.Just as a scholar has observed:“The land-based pollutants entering a sea area from river mouths involve the whole river basin,which has resulted in a very complicated natural basin water environment system….To control the amount of pollutants entering a sea,we must conduct comprehensive management over basin-wide pollutant sources and must establish an integrated management system for basin-wide water environment of rivers flowing intoseas in China.”①Zhao Zhangyuan and Kong Linghui,Environmental Status Quo and Protection Countermeasures in Bohai Marine Areas(Chinese),Research of Environmental Science,Vol.2, 2000,p.27.Therefore,we must take the environment and ecology of the Bohai Sea Area as a whole,and establish a trans-departmental,trans-administrative-region,and trans-river basin enforcement system for the Bohai Special Law,in order to achieve satisfactory results in the ecological and environmental management of the Bohai Sea.

D.The Predicament of Traditional Bohai Environmental Governance and How to Overcome It

As mentioned above,as a complete natural geographical unit and unique cultural geographical unit,the Bohai Sea Area has developed an organic and unified wholeness from the interaction and balance between factors of resources, environment and ecology.Such integrity requires trans-departmental and trans-administrative-area integrated management over the Bohai Sea.The current Bohai management system cannot effectively address the regional and river basin problems.Firstly,in the current regime of resource and environmental management in the Bohai Sea,a complex array of departments exercise authority:the separate organs for industry management,sea-related departments such as environmental protection,marine management,transportation,those that deal with agriculture and land resources,and even military branches are all unaffiliated with each other and act independently in practice.Moreover,they tend to independently interpret and enforce laws that bear on Bohai Sea management,lacking centralized coordination and overall cooperation,making it all but impossible to implement a comprehensive management scheme in the Bohai Sea.Secondly,the government organizations of various localities within the Bohai Sea area,coastal land areas and river basins implement decentralized law enforcement over the overall affairs of the Bohai Sea according to their respective functions.They often govern sea area and land area separately and also manage environmental,resource and ecological affairs separately.As a result, some useful infrastructures are repeatedly constructed,basic data and relevant standards cannot be effectively connected,and coordination is lacking among regulations and laws.

The special legislation for the Bohai Sea is designed to break the boundarybetween land and sea,the boundaries between river basins,and the boundaries between administrative areas and the division of functions among different departments.In this way trans-departmental and trans-administrative-area comprehensive management may be realized and a high-level organ capable of decision-making and administrative organization established over the Bohai area to manage economic development and environmental protection activities in a centralized and coordinated manner.This would be most readily achieved through following the principle of“determining the land according to the sea,coordinated development of rivers and seas and integrating sea and land”according to a proposal to the NPC,and,proceeding based on Bohai’s ecological characteristics,breaking away from the past project-oriented fragmented management model under which a single department deals with a single issue,mainly relying on administrative measures.①Zhang Haiwen and Liu Yan et al,Research on Legislation of Environmental Management of Bohai Areas,Ocean Press,2009,p.184～185.Just as Pan Yue,vice minister of Environmental Protection,has pointed out,“Without a trans-regional and trans-departmental basin management mechanism,it will be impossible for us to enforce effective water pollution prevention and treatment measures…This is an imperative matter for solving the current water pollution crisis.”②Pan Yue,Some Local Governments Protect Publicly Polluters,Xinjing News,July 4, 2007.In managing the Bohai Sea area,it is necessary to establish a centralized,authoritative,trans-departmental,trans-administrative-area and trans-basin system for the enforcement of the Bohai Special Law.Only when this has been achieved can we effectively overcome the disadvantages inherent in traditional environmental governance in the Bohai Sea.

E.Allocation and Realization of Power,Responsibilities and Interests in Management of the Bohai Area

The current system of resource and environment management in the Bohai Sea essentially combines features of departmental management and administrative area management,leading to the segmentation of departments and areas. This causes a lack of coordination and can also give rise to uncertainty over where authority lies,or even result in the shirking of responsibilities concerning issues of environment,resources and ecological protection.The problemlies in the disunity of power,responsibilities and interests of administrative authorities in the management of Bohai Sea affairs.As a result of such disunity, environmental management authorities under the current administrative area division in China are not responsible for the environment of different administrative jurisdictions and are not authorized to take action in areas outside their own jurisdiction.These authorities’roles and responsibilities are defined by laws or the upper echelons of the central government,and their functions do not include managing the environment beyond their jurisdiction,therefore these authorities do not have the qualifications to assume responsibility for environmental quality beyond their jurisdiction.Their power is limited to the administrative areas under their jurisdiction,yet the environment surpasses man-made jurisdictional delimitations.If such authorities are also required to be responsible for such environment(beyond their jurisdiction),power and responsibilities are not concerted for these authorities.Therefore,under the current management system,no one authority or department takes responsible for the environmental pollution or destruction of resources and ecology in the Bohai Sea area; neither could they legitimately assume responsibility if they tried,due to the nature of current laws and regulations.As a result,the effectiveness of Bohai Sea governance is substantially marginalized.It would be best to establish enforcement authorities for the Bohai Special Law that are not only responsible for the resources,environmental and ecological affairs of the coastal Bohai Sea, but also for the overall resource,environment and ecology of the Greater Bohai Sea area.The enforcement authorities’jurisdiction should correspond to the whole environmental unit of the Bohai Sea area.In this way they can plan and manage environmental,resource and ecological protection affairs within the area and at the same time bear responsibility for the results of their policies. Such a unity of power and responsibility would be integral to the realization of effective governance of the Bohai Sea area.

Ⅲ.Setup of the Enforcement System of the Bohai Special Law

To achieve a comprehensive system of governance in the Bohai region, there is no real choice but to establish a trans-departmental,trans-administrative-area.Furthermore,this area should be subject to a trans-basin enforcement system based on the realities of the ecological and environmental situation in and around the Bohai Sea.However,how to set up the enforcement au-thorities,the most essential element in the enforcement system,is what we must reflect on.Setting up an Integrated Management Executive Committee that oversees various administrative areas within the Bohai area and exercises management and environmental protection powers over the macro-affairs of the greater Bohai Sea area would be a reasonable and feasible choice for establishing an enforcement authority in accordance with the Bohai Special Law.It is reasonable,because the management of the Bohai Sea area involves both national and local interests,touches on the division of central and local authority, and also impacts the immediate interests of the people inhabiting the various administrative areas within the basins.Only when the various stakeholders are incorporated into the decision-making process can relevant policy decisions be easily accepted and generally enforced by the parties concerned.It is feasible, because with the establishment of a central committee,it would not be necessary to set up yet another authority or department beyond the current administrative system,consistent with the spirit of the reform of the national government system(aiming at downsizing departments and personnel);at the same time,problems and disadvantages in the current fragmented system of basin management in China can be better avoided.

The Integrated Management Committee of Bohai Sea,the decision-making center for the environmental and resource management of the entire Bohai Sea area,would embody the legislative purpose of the Bohai Special Law.It would enjoy centralized decision-making,management and supervisory powers over the resources,environment and ecological protection of the entire Bohai Sea area and be responsible for the effectiveness of its policies pertaining to the management affairs of the entire Bohai Sea.The activities of the Integrated Management Committee of Bohai Sea would conform with the following principles:

(1)Political democracy:the committee consists of a president,vice president and several committee members.The members of the committee enjoy equal status;all have the right to share their opinions.In making decisions the majority ruleis followed.Other features of this committee include consultation on the basis of equality and making joint decisions.The members’rights to participate and right to know are fully safeguarded.

(2)Unified administration:the committee consists of major leaders of various administrative areas of the Bohai Sea.Imbued with both the highest authority and full accountability,the resolutions of the committee are both influential and authoritative.

(3)Legal authorization:the committee was set up according to the provi-sions of the Bohai Special Law,and the extent of its authority is specified by the Special Law.Its resolutions and decisions are legally binding over the entire Bohai Area and must be executed according to law.The basic functions of the Integrated Management Executive Committee pertain to management and decision-making over the affairs of the Bohai Sea area,including the preparation of policies,laws and regulations on the environment,resources and ecological protection;prioritization of governance objectives;breakdown of target-tasks, selection of implementation measures and methods;supervision and check of responsibility fulfillment of target-tasks;and fulfillment of the environment accountability system.

The Integrated Management Executive Committee would see to the dayto-day operations of the Integrated Management Committee(IMC)of the Bohai Sea.It would be accountable and report its progress to the IMC.The Executive Committee would consist of the main leaders of various departments such as environmental protection,marine affairs,agriculture,transportation, national land resource and water conservancy located in various administrative areas of the Bohai Sea.The Executive Committee would exercise authority on behalf of the IMC while it is out of session.It would be responsible for supervising and guaranteeing the implementation of the resolutions and decisions of the Committee,and regularly prepare its own policies and independently make decisions within the scope of authorization conferred by the Committee.

The Joint Council of River Basins would be the consultative and deliberative organ of the Integrated Management Committee of the Bohai Sea,consisting of representatives elected by various stakeholders within the river basins of the whole Bohai Sea area(including the Liaohe,Haihe and Yellow River basins),with the geographical range of each river basin as the basic unit.The main functions of the Joint Council of River Basin would be communication,exchange,consultation and coordination of the issues relevant to the environment,resources and ecological protection of the entire Bohai Sea area within the limits of the Bohai river basins.The primary functions of the Joint Council of River Basin in the governance of the Bohai Sea area would be manifested in two ways:firstly,the Joint Council would provide decision-making consultation for resolutions and decisions made by the Integrated Management Committee of the Bohai Sea and its Executive Committee,and give various stakeholders in the river basin ample opportunity to participate in decision making and express their interests.This way the decisions of the committees would be more consistent with and better reflect the interests and requirements of various partieswithin the Bohai area and also manage to strike a balance between potentially conflicting interests.Secondly,the Council would coordinate the implementation of the resolutions and decisions of the IMC and its Executive Committee, ensuring their satisfactory implementation.

Ⅳ.The Relationship Between and Coordination of the Bohai Special Law Enforcement System and the Current Bohai Management System

The establishment of the Integrated Management Committee of the Bohai Sea would inevitably bring the following problems:for starters,how will the relationship be between the enforcement system of the Bohai Special Law and the enforcement systems established by the relevant current laws on the management of the Bohai Sea?Will there be a power conflict between the two in managing affairs of the Bohai Sea?If conflicts do arise,how should they be resolved?The setup of enforcement authorities in accordance with the Bohai Special Law will center on the IMC of the Bohai Sea.This does not constitute a replacement of the current Bohai management system,nor will it be a simple adhesion to and replication of the current Bohai management system,but rather a kind of reasonable step forward that appropriately transcends and discards extraneous features of the current Bohai management system.

Taking such a“step forward”would still allow for retaining certain advantages of the current Bohai management system.Some of its strong points would include a solid capacity for industrial and functional management and a high degree of specialization.Industry and functional management departments,having overseen long-term marine management practices,have accumulated a rich repository of experience in marine management and they serve a valuable function.The comprehensive management of Bohai Sea affairs by the IMC will proceed smoothly only if it takes full account of these departments’significant law enforcement expertise and receives their full support,cooperation and coordination.“Coordination”means inter-departmental coordination in the course of decision making.Such coordination would be most crucial in areas such as pollution prevention and treatment;sustainable utilization of resources;ecological protection;maintenance of the natural marine topography; development and management of various marine industries;in addition to the weighing of relevant interests and allocation of obligations to provincial,municipal and county authorities,among others.In this period of transition to IMC-centered governance,one must resolutely avoid the predicament that has been the hallmark of past coordination efforts,namely being“coordinated”but not harmonized,or of having a coordination mechanism that,for all practical purposes,exists in name only.The coordination mechanism should serve as an effective tool for the various stakeholders in the Bohai Sea area,helping to realize democratic and scientific decision making for better Bohai governance.The term“discard”refers to the resolute eradication of departmentalism and local protectionism in Bohai management.It is necessary to thoroughly root out the parochialism and nearsightedness of uncoordinated departments and local governments driven almost exclusively by the interests of their own constituency. This would pave the way for installing a comprehensive framework of governance throughout the whole Bohai region that holistically manages the environment,resources and ecological interests.This can only be realized through reinforcement of a centralized executive force for policies and decisions that is kept in check by the strict application of the environmental accountability system,an accountability mechanism for environmentally related work,statements and actions of governments,government departments in charge of environment and government officials at various levels.

As mentioned above,the new IMC-centered approach would appropriately transcend the current Bohai Sea management system.This would be most apparent in the following two aspects:

Firstly,an IMC-centered approach to management over the Bohai Sea would not take narrow issues such as the management of a single industry as a primary concern,but would act as a vehicle for macroscopic,integrated management.Macroscopic management executed by the Integrated Management Committee of the Bohai Sea would involve the entire extent of the Bohai Sea area.This area not only includes the Bohai Sea marine area and its surrounding coastal administrative areas,i.e.,three provinces and one city,but also encompasses the greater Bohai ecological area partitioned into the three major river basins that empty into the Bohai:the Liaohe,Haihe and Yellow River basins. It is called integrated management because the Bohai affairs under the scope of IMC authority would not only include environmental pollution prevention and rehabilitation of the Bohai Sea,but also issues such as sustainable utilization of resources and ecological protection.The IMC’s macroscopic,integrated management over the Bohai Sea should be consistent with the basic concepts and requirements of regional marine management.This kind of scientific regional marine management model will reasonably transcend traditional industry man-agement and outdated single affair management techniques.

Secondly,the management over the Bohai Sea by the IMC would strike a balance between power and responsibility,authority and accountability.The basic theoretical basis behind the enforcement system established by the current laws relevant to Bohai Sea management is perhaps best described as a form of“passive administration”.That is to say,the laws prescribing Bohai Sea governance provide enforcement authorities with only bare bones-only the source and nature of the authority granted to the various departments,boundaries and requirements for the execution of authority as well as the legal liabilities for improper execution of authority are listed in the current set of laws and regulations.In effect,this fosters little to no consideration of whether these laws’legislative purpose can be realized through the present enforcement system.In fact,to all appearances the enforcement authorities have practically no guarantee that the legislative purpose of these laws can even come to fruition in actual practice.The root cause lies in the fact that the current Bohai management authorities have no consistent,comprehensive power,responsibilities and interests in the management of Bohai Sea affairs.The Integrated Management Committee of Bohai Sea,an independent authority for protecting the environment,resources and ecology of the environmental unit known as the Bohai Sea area,would cohesively/synergistically plan and manage the environment,resource and ecological protection of the area,and would also be responsible for the effectiveness of its policies.Such a cycle would create a stable unity of authority and responsibility.These functions would be a notable improvement over the current system of Bohai management.

(Translator:CHEN Xiaoshuang:

Editor:ZHU Hengwei:

English Editor:Joshua Owens)

*Li Bingqiang,Ph.D.,currently serves as a Lecturer in the Law School of Shanxi University,and studies environmental law.E-mail:sdfxylbq@163.com