Minister: Biosafety remains a challenge

China continues to face challenges in ensuring biosafety against invasive species brought into the country, the top quarantine official said on Tuesday.

In 2017, foreign harmful species were intercepted almost 950,000 times by border officials at ports nationwide, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

The number of interceptions reached more than 1.2 million in 2016, a record high, and involved 6,305 kinds of species, official data show.

“We will step up efforts to ensure biosafety at the border, including improving safety inspections, strengthening the tracing of international plant and animal diseases and their analysis and management, and conducting continuous public education campaigns,” Zhi Shuping, minister in charge of the administration, said at a work conference on Tuesday.

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