From China Dialogue:
Of all China’s government agencies, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) may have the hardest life. They have to deal with the world’s worst pollution and largest population – and without anywhere near enough power to do so. You may as well ask a dwarf to move a mountain.
This was perfectly demonstrated by recent events in Beijing.
World Environment Day is held on June 5; it is when SEPA and its international counterparts should demonstrate their achievements. But it was this very day that 1,000 Beijing residents chose to surround the administration wearing white T-shirts painted with slogans, as a protest against plans to build a waste incinerator near their homes in Liulitun, Beijing. [Full Text]
Jianqiang Liu is a senior investigative journalist with China Southern Weekend and a visiting scholar at Peking University.