Two people ride on a motorcycle on Jan 2, 2017, in Weifang, East China's Shandong province. The provincial weather station issued orange alerts for fog and smog that has led to visibility of less than 200 meters in 11 cities in the provincen. [Photo/IC]

DURING THE LATEST ROUND OF INSPECTIONS by the central environmental protection authorities, the local governments in Beijing, and Puyang in Central China's Henan province were found to have shut down service providers ranging from supermarkets to breakfast restaurants that contribute little to airborne pollution, instead of tracking down the heavy polluters. West China Metropolis Daily commented on Monday:

One need not resort to professionals to figure out that small restaurants and clothes shops do not produce as much air pollution as large manufacturers do. The targeting of these small restaurants and retailers, in all likelihood, indicates an attempt to divert public attention from the real polluters or even give the dischargers of hazardous emissions carte blanche.

This is not to say small polluters should not be supervised. Every human activity, however trivial and small, can cause some pollution. But the effectiveness of anti-pollution efforts hinge on a targeted, focused approach, not rigid or ill-considered policies.

That the local environmental protection enforcers took on small businesses which play a limited role in worsening air quality only fuels speculation that their environmental protection enforcement efforts were selective and made little difference to the anti-smog efforts.

Although China's air quality improved in 2016 compared with the year before, as Environmental Protection Minister Chen Jining confirmed on Monday, and more than 3,100 officials have been held accountable for lax environmental protection since the end of last year, the fight against air pollution is far from over.

In particular, asked to submit a list of major polluters by the end of March, some local governments did not take the order seriously and tried to name and shame many small businesses, undermining the credibility of their lists. And their trick, which was not exposed until the central inspection teams intervened, should be a wake-up call to the environmental watchdog that getting rid of some incompetent officials is simply not enough.