China, Japan, and ROK have published a joint communiqué in a bid to set up a work team for environmental protection in East Asia.

The Sixth China, Japan, and ROK Ministerial Meeting on Environment, which ended Sunday in Tokyo, also reached agreements on building up a sandstorm monitoring and information sharing system.

The environment ministers reiterated the importance of the Kyoto Protocol in reducing global emissions.

They also vowed to push forward efforts to eliminate acid rain and expand air pollution research.

Head of China's State Environmental Protection Administration, Xie Zhenghua told reporters that China is making efforts to adjust its industrial structure, improve the use of energy resources, and increase environmentally friendly power generation.

(CRI.com December 6, 2004)