China's Environmental Protection Minister Chen Jining listens to a question at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, in Beijing, March 7, 2015. [Photo by Wang Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]

Other highlights of the press conference are as follows:

Authorities have to bring down the emissions of major pollutants from tens of millions of tons to millions of tons if the country wants its sky to return to blue, said Chen Jining, China's newly appointed minister of environmental protection.

Chen made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, in Beijing on Saturday.

He said the target can be reached although the government will face great difficulties.

China cannot relent on efforts to tackle pollution, though a rapid turnaround should not be expected, the environment minister said.

He admitted the world's second largest economy is faced with the unprecedented conflict between environmental protection and development in human history.

"China's environmental problem is still severe," he said, citing woes in poor environmental quality, grave ecological damage and high environmental risks that come with unreasonable industrial layout.

The minister said that China needs to do more to cut pollution, acknowledging the country's environmental laws were still not as strong as its economic laws.

He promised that the environmental protection ministry will spare no effort to strengthen the implementation of the revised environmental protection law and raise the capacity of pollution control this year.

The authorities will also ensure information transparency and protect the public's right to know, participate in and supervise the fight against air pollution, according to Chen.

"We would publish activities of the government and enterprises, leaving no space for violators to hide from the environmental protection law," said Chen.

The environmental scientist and former president of Tsinghua University assumed the position a week before the "two sessions", namely the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, kicked off on March 5.

He said the first thing he does since becoming the minister is to look at the sky and see if it is smoggy or not.

More than 80 percent of about 300 cities failed to meet the official standard of air quality last year, with smog frequently hitting the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas as well as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, said Chen.

The government would also use the WeChat, a popular instant messaging service, to encourage the public to report illegal emissions, he said.