China's environmental protection was lagging behind economic development and was now facing "stern reality," said the country's top environment official.

"Environmental quality is not satisfactory ... and environmental protection work is arduous," Environmental Protection Minister Zhou Shengxian was quoted by Tuesday's People's Daily as saying.

He said the state of the environment determined people's living conditions.

"People say they prefer drinking clean water while riding bicycles, to drinking polluted water while driving luxury sedans. Of course, the best condition is both drinking clean water and driving cars," Zhou said, explaining environmental issues concerned economic development as as well as livelihoods.

The central government planned to spend 210 billion yuan (30.88 billion U.S. dollars) of a 4-trillion-yuan economic stimulus package initiated late last year, on energy saving and environmental protection, he said.

Zhou said the right economic policies were essential to environmental protection, which would ensure public health and advance sustainable development.

Zhou also urged to push for strategic adjustment of economic structure making use of the opportunities brought about by the financial crisis, stressing the development of recycling and green economy.

"Ecological protection should be cultivated as a new economic growth engine," Zhou said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2009)