China stonewalls bad pollution news
Posted by ampontan on Thursday, July 5, 2007
A FEW DAYS AGO, this post took one journalist to task for arguing that it’s the developed world’s responsibility to clean up the pollution mess China is creating. Yesterday, Gordon Chang writing in Contentions, the blog for Commentary magazine, commented on a Financial Times report that the Chinese demanded the World Bank cut out about one-third of its study, “Cost of Pollution in China.”
The World Bank concluded that bad air and bad water cause about 750,000 premature deaths in China each year, but the Chinese thought this information “could cause misunderstanding”. Guo Xiaomin, who monitored the report for China, also said, “We did not want to make this report too thick”.
The real concern is not about causing misunderstandings. It’s about causing unrest in China–or, to be more accurate, exacerbate existing unrest.
Chang properly notes:
With the help of the World Bank, China’s Communists have now managed to export not only pollution but their governing principles of censorship, secrecy, and unaccountability.
It’s worthwhile to read all the links: The Financial Times also reports that of the world’s 20 most polluted cities, 16 are in China. The Chinese also demanded the deletion of maps from the report showing the problem areas.
