Wednesday 27 June 2012
Beijing wants to keep its people in state of ignorance
Five months ago, Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau, spurred on by data released by the American embassy, adopted tightened standards and began disseminating information on extremely fine particles in the air capable of penetrating deeply into the lungs - particles that have been linked to respiratory diseases and lung cancer.
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Beijing wants to keep its people in state of ignorance
Frank Ching
27 June 2012
Five months ago, Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau, spurred on by data released by the American embassy, adopted tightened standards and began disseminating information on extremely fine particles in the air capable of penetrating deeply into the lungs - particles that have been linked to respiratory diseases and lung cancer.
Pressure for such a move had built up because the Chinese public was aware that the US embassy was measuring and releasing data on PM 2.5 particles since 2009. The American data contrasted starkly with official Chinese findings of “blue sky days” and “good” quality air.
Since January, therefore, Beijingers have had two sources of information. However, while the data may have been comparable, the interpretation was often different with air deemed “good” by the municipal government described by the embassy as “unhealthy” or “unhealthy for sensitive groups”.
This embarrassed the Chinese government to such an extent that it publicly demanded that the Americans stop monitoring the air quality or, at least, that they stop making the data available to the Chinese public.
Thus, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, said: “Of course, if foreign embassies want to collect air-quality information for their own staff or diplomats, I think that is their own matter, but we believe that this type of information should not be released to the public.”
This, quite transparently, is a policy of keeping the people ignorant to make it easier for the leaders to govern.
China has now declared information on air quality to be an internal affair, in which the US and other countries should not interfere. “China’s air-quality monitoring and information disclosure involve the public interest and are up to the government,” Deputy Environment Minister Wu Xiaoqing said on June 5, World Environment Day. “Foreign consulates in China taking it on themselves to monitor air quality and releasing the information online . . . also contravene relevant environmental protection rules.”
While the data published by the Beijing municipality and by the American embassy are similar, Mr Wu was unhappy that foreigners “use their own countries’ standards to assess China’s air quality, which obviously is inappropriate”.
What this boils down to is that China has decided to adopt lower standards. China’s newly established standard for PM 2.5 is 75 micrograms per cubic metre, but that of the US is much more stringent, at only 35 micrograms per cubic metre.
Mr Wu pointed out that the US had begun with lower standards and only adopted the current level in 2006. But this raising of standards was the result of years of research, which showed the damage inflicted by fine particles.
Since it is now known what damage PM 2.5 particles can do, there seems no good reason for China to adopt lower health standards with the idea of raising them years later - after having paid a heavy toll in human lives.
Mr Wu’s explanation was different. “Environmental quality standards should tally with economic development and technological conditions,” he said.
Of course, doubts have been raised about Chinese numbers for decades. This year is particularly sensitive because there is a scheduled transition of power from the current Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao leadership to the next generation of leaders.
The New York Times reported last Friday that there is evidence of falsification of statistics to disguise the true depth of the current economic troubles that China is undergoing. Plant managers have been forced by local and provincial officials not to report to Beijing the full extent of the slowdown.
However, fiddling with economic figures is one thing; accepting lower health and safety standards is a different thing entirely.
It may be argued that poor people cannot afford the same housing or education or clothing as rich people. This does not mean, however, that poor people can somehow breathe polluted air, eat tainted food and drink contaminated water without damage to their health.
Poorer countries may not be able to afford the technology necessary to ensure healthy living and working conditions but this does not mean that their people’s constitutions are different from those of people in advanced countries.
It is misleading for the Chinese authorities to describe air as “good” when it is known scientifically that it is “unhealthy” or even “very unhealthy”.
As Mr Wu said, it is the job of the Chinese government to keep the people informed but, it is clear that the government is not doing its job properly. Instead, it wants the people to be kept in a state of ignorance.
The writer is a Hong Kong-based journalist and commentator. Follow him on Twitter: @FrankChing1
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