November 25, 2005
WHO WOULD HAVE DREAMT IT?:
Spill Taints Beijing Image: The factory accident that poisoned a Chinese river has laid bare problems such as official secrecy and destruction of the environment (Mark Magnier, November 25, 2005, LA Times)
The release of millions of gallons of toxic liquid into a major city's water supply, China's biggest environmental accident in years, is shaping up as a wake-up call for a society that has made huge sacrifices for economic development.On Thursday, the government defended its handling of the mid-November factory explosion that dumped 100 tons of benzene and other chemicals into northeastern China's Songhua River.
In a sign of the enormous political stakes, Premier Wen Jiabao ordered that every effort be made to supply the city of Harbin with safe drinking water. In China's rigid system, such senior leaders rarely address local problems. [...]
Experts say the jolt has laid bare many of China's fundamental problems, including corruption, official secrecy, wholesale destruction of the environment and a growing sense that many "domestic" problems can no longer be contained within China's borders.
It's interesting how differently the Right and Left read the morning papers, because of their differening grasps on reality. For the Right every story confirms our conventional wisdom, but for the Left riots in France and the rot in China come as a shock. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 25, 2005 9:38 AM
My God, another enviromental catastrophe, this time in Harbin, China.
DAMN that George W. Bush!
Posted by: Andrew X at November 25, 2005 11:50 AMCould this be China's Chernobyl?
And, consider that minus the Internet and better communications, China might not have informed its people of this, even as recently as 1990. Tens of thousands might have died, and hundreds of thousands would have been sickened and perhaps developed cancer down the road (benzene is a strong carcinogen), and what would the central government have said? "Ooops"? Some local leader would have been shot, and that would have been about it.
Posted by: ratbert at November 25, 2005 12:29 PM