BEIJING, July 7 (Xinhua) -- China's chief justice Zhou Qiang has called for efforts to enhance international judicial cooperation and global environmental protection.

Zhou, President of the Supreme People's Court, made the remarks at a symposium on international judicial cooperation in environmental cooperation.

Zhou said China has continuously improved its environmental legislation and law enforcement in recent years, while Chinese courts have been actively engaged in improving the system of environmental litigation and providing effective legal services and strong legal guarantees to build an ecological civilization and a beautiful China.

The judicial efforts go hand in hand with China's progress in environmental legislation and law enforcement. In 2017, authorities across China handled 233,000 environment pollution cases, an increase of 69 percent year on year. Cumulative environment-related fines reached 11.58 billion yuan (1.81 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, compared with just 4.25 billion yuan in 2015.

Zhou said that China hopes to further enhance its pragmatic cooperation with related parties and contribute to global environmental protection.