Abstract

This chapter examines the status and application of key environmental principles in China, including the sustainable development principle, the protection first principle, the preventative principle, the comprehensive treatment principle, the public participa-tion principle and the polluter pays principle. Some of them, such as the preventative principle and the polluter pays principle, have been implemented under Chinese environmental law since the late 1970s. The sustainable development principle and the public participation principle were introduced to China after the Rio Summit (1992). In addition to the universally accepted principles, China has adopted principles of local creation: the protection first principle and the comprehensive treatment principle. They aim to serve special needs in China’s war against pollution. References are made to the legal mechanisms that implement these principles to prevent pollution and protect the environment.