Inspections to tighten for imported plants, animals

Frequent global exchanges raise safety concerns

China's gatekeepers will intensify inspections and quarantines of animals and plants for import and export this year to cope with increasing challenges of biological safety brought by increasing international exchanges.

Inspection and quarantine authorities across China intercepted 5,788 harmful species in 980,000 batches and stopped them from entering the country last year, Zhi Shuping, minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on Monday.