From AFP, via spacedaily.com: Toxic spills, smog-filled skies and swathes of land reduced to dust – scenes all too common in China, but green experts say the country is finally realising it must stop sacrificing the environment for growth. While the government still struggles to be transparent when environmental disasters strike, China is increasingly worried […]
Read MorePity China’s propaganda-meisters. Since the truth broke that the Songhua River was accidentally spiked with a blast of benzene, the party’s Central Publicity Department (CPD), charged with the somewhat absurd task of covering up a screwed-up cover-up, have tried and failed twice. The mess has only gotten uglier. Now the spokesman who first sounded of […]
Read MoreFrom Newsweek: A 43-year-old apparatchik, Wang Wei wasn’t the type to make headlines. Just a few months ago, he’d become the city of Jilin’s deputy mayor responsible for, among other things, industrial management and work safety. But the day after a Nov. 13 benzene-plant explosion in the city killed five people and wounded dozens, Wang […]
Read MoreFrom BBC NEWS: Businessmen from the Chinese city of Harbin are planning to sue the state-owned chemical company blamed for poisoning the water supply. Water to the city was cut off last month after an explosion at the plant allowed 100 tonnes of benzene to spill into the Songhua river. The businessmen’s lawyer told the […]
Read MoreFrom MOSNEWS.COM: President Hu Jintao has vowed to “spare no effort” to minimize the damage from a chemical spill on Russia as Beijing mulled plans to build a temporary dam to stop the slick, the AFX news agency reported. “We will take all necessary and effective measures and do our utmost to minimize the pollution […]
Read MoreFrom the Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief: In a rare disclosure of the enormous hidden cost of China‘s rapid economic development, the Chinese government acknowledged last week that “sudden public incidents“ such as industrial accidents, social safety accidents, and natural disasters are responsible for over one million casualties and the loss of six percent of GDP […]
Read MoreFrom AP, via Forbs: A deputy mayor of Jilin who told reporters the chemical plant explosion had not led to any pollution was found dead at home Tuesday. The United States said Tuesday that it was sending experts to help China cope with a river-borne toxic spill that is approaching Russia’s Far East, while Beijing […]
Read MoreFrom Newsweek: Bungling, delay, cover-up. When such missteps follow a major disaster, officials often have to resign. We saw it unfold in the United States after the killer hurricane Katrina. Now we’re seeing heads roll in China, following the Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion that killed five people and spilled 100 tons of benzene-like carcinogens […]
Read MoreFrom The Moscow Times: Yevgenia Osadchaya is beside herself with worry, wondering how her family will survive when the toxic slick flowing from China pollutes the Amur River that provides the livelihood for her family and her native Nanai people. “Not eat fish for a whole year?” cried the 47-year-old, who is legally blind with […]
Read MoreFrom Asia Times Online: But little was said or done to alert the rural communities in numerous towns and villages along the Songhua between Jilin and Harbin about the dangerous chemicals flowing in the water. The authorities have offered no estimates on how many people rely on the river for drinking water. After the news […]
Read More
Click on the image to download Firefly for circumvention
CDT is a non-profit media site, and we need your support. Your contribution will help us provide more translations, breaking news, and other content you love.
