Russian officials have become impatient with China after several failed attempts to agree on measures to address river pollution. Russia estimates that China will dump millions of tons of waste into rivers that flow into Russia in coming years.
From Eurasia Daily Monitor:
Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev traveled to China August 31-September 4, but apparently failed to convince Chinese officials to conclude a treaty on the protection of trans-border rivers, which would regulate how compensation for damages should be paid. Instead, both sides signed yet another protocol and agreed on planned joint work in 2007-2008.In the past two years, there were chemical spills from Chinese plants into the Songhua River, the tributary of the Amur River, known as Sungari in Russia. The Amur River is the main source of water supply to Khabarovsk, a city of 600,000 residents. [Full Text]
[Image: “Cloud Factory,” near Amur River in Khabarovsk, Russia. From borya on Flickr.]
