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China will forge ahead promoting electric vehicles as part of its energy policy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, as regulators increase scrutiny of diesels following Volkswagen AG’s admission to cheating emissions rules.

“The Chinese government has been paying attention to air pollution prevention given that it affects China’s development and economic structural adjustments,” Zheng Shanjie, vice administrator of China’s National Energy Administration, told reporters Friday in Beijing, in response to a question about Volkswagen and diesels. “China is now vigorously promoting development of electric vehicles, which is part of our measures on comprehensively addressing the issue.”

Unlike Europe, where diesel is popular as an automotive fuel, most cars in China run on gasoline. The country has in recent years spent billions promoting the adoption of electric vehicles, doling out research grants and subsidies to automakers and battery suppliers to reduce air pollution in its major cities and seize leadership in what it sees as the next mainstream automotive technology.

China has said it will target raising the proportion of non-fossil fuel energy use to total consumption to 15 percent by 2020, increasing further to 20 percent by 2030.

Local governments in major cities began restricting the use of diesel-powered passenger vehicles in the 1990s due to concerns that poor diesel quality would worsen pollution and rising demand for the fuel would undermine supply for trucks that haul goods around the country. As a result, the estimated sales of diesel-powered passenger vehicles were only 0.4 percent of total deliveries in China in the past 12 months through August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

China’s shunning of diesel cars may turn out to have been a blessing for Volkswagen, as it’s shielded the company from direct backlash in its largest market. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker has counted on the country for about 35 percent of vehicle sales this year and plans to raise local production capacity to 5 million autos by 2019, from 3.5 million in 2014.

“The Chinese government has been supporting development of electric vehicles instead of diesel-powered cars,” said Steve Man, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “China is critical for Volkswagen and the ban on diesel cars may make China a savior for the company and help preserve the brand’s good reputation in the market.”

VW’s two joint ventures in China said Thursday they produced none of the vehicles involved in the widening scandal that cost former Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn his job.

— With assistance by Ying Tian, and Nick Wadhams