Isn't It Ironic? China Calls For Citizen Activism, Detains Environmentalist
by Rachel Wasser, Beijing, China on 04.25.07
Fishing in Lake Taihu.
Today's big China environment story is an exciting one. While announcing new transparency rules, our favorite Chinese environmental official called for greater citizen involvement to curb the country's powerful polluters. Reuters quotes Pan Yue, reformist vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration: "Relying on the force of environmental protection and a few other agencies is far from enough; we need broad public participation, because the public are the biggest stakeholders in the environment." Sounds great to us, and the new transparency rules, which require officials to disclose often closely-held information about pollution and polluters, will surely be a boon for China's citizen activists.
Unfortunately, one of Monday's big China environment stories casts a dark pollution-like pall over today's. Prominent activist Wu Lihong, named one of China's top ten environmentalists by the national government in 2005, was arrested and detained on April 13th. According to his wife, dozens of police descended on his home, ransacking it and taking his personal effects. The story of the arrest, reportedly for extortion and blackmail, broke on Monday, creating an unfortunate ironic backdrop for Pan Yue's remarks. More after the jump.
For over fifteen years, Wu has been monitoring the state of beautiful Taihu Lake, China's third largest freshwater body. The lake is a tourist attraction, a fishing ground, and a major source of drinking water for many, including the citizens of Shanghai. It is also highly polluted. Last March, in an interview with the AFP, Wu blamed local government and business - and their close ties to one another - for the state of the lake:
The government and industry are connected to each other like a chain, they are inseparable. The central government is good but it can't see what's happening here with the local government colluding with the factories.
Over the course of his activist career, Wu has been repeatedly threatened and arrested. In November, despite Wu's protests, his hometown of Yixing was named a "model city" by the national environmental authorities. ::Reuters, ::AFP , Associated Press, and ::Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Also see ::China's Green Revolution: How Far Will It (Not) Go?, ::China Wakes Up Thirsty and Worried, and ::Dark Cloud Over China's Water.
What's so ironic about him being arrested?
For those conveniently have forgotten. China is still a communist country in which represses millions of its own people, build concentration camps, encourage forced labor, and exploits child labor.
Why are we even surprised?
What is the sense in China building up economically when, in doing so, they are utterly destroying their environment and endangering their air and water sources through pollution. What limit must be reached before their government acts upon big businesses or is this an impossible concept to grasp in a country whose government and pollution sources are inextricably linked in a maze of corruptive practices.
The Chinese government recognizes Wu Lihong as one of the most concerned environmentalists in China but at the same time rewards him by arrest and harsh treatment. It is strange that a man so devoted to preserving the beauty of Lake Taihu, an important source of beauty and fish as well as water for the people of Beijing, should be so rudely treated. Does China have two faces or is it really a sign that China cannot control its own destiny?
adrianakau@aol.com
sorry to see those comments on china.have u ever been in china?
each country has its own problems, for china,it has a population of over 1.3billion,that's why most of its issues occer.
we r working on the environment protection,but there r indeed people who do evils,and mutiplied by the population radix,it's huge...
we r sorry and do not wanna make excuses,we can not promise anything,we will do whatever we can and influence as many as we can.
that's why we r here in treehugger,we wanna learn more advanced ways to make china a better place.
Nothing new there. Anyone remember "Let a hundred flowers bloom", when the Chinese government encouraged people to have lots of new ideas...and then arrested them all?
The real irony is that China is the only ancient civilisation to persist as a power into modern times, and a lot of commentators put this down to looking after the land (so unlike Mesopotamia or parts of the Roman empire it didn't turn into desert)...and now, in just 1/2 a generation, it's all being thrown away.