The Chinese army has been ordered to seek local authorities' approval and pass environment evaluation for construction projects and military exercise plans to prevent environmental hazards.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, recently issued a regulation to set up an environment evaluation system to curb pollution caused by military activities.

According to the regulation, construction of military bases, ports, logistics centers and exercise fields should only be approved after the project passes environment evaluation.

The assessment should also be applied to other activities that might harm the environment, including military training, goods transfer, weapon purchases, repair and disposal, the regulation said.

All the assessments should be approved by local environment authorities, it added.

The six-chapter regulation also specified the assessment procedure, organs responsible for the assessment and the punishments for people and organizations that violate the regulation.

"The evaluation system is very important as it will effectively curb military pollution," the regulation said.
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(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2006)