Ways That Are Dark

Summing up recent events in China, 24/7 Wall St. figures that  Problems In China May Be Worse Than They Appear. Author Douglas A. McIntyre recounts the major revelations that have come to light in recent months. Collectively they paint a dark picture of the current situation in China. The troubling events consist of:

1. The Shanghai Composite is down over 15% in the last five weeks.
2. Nearly one-fifth of the sold-in-China products that were studied failed to meet the country’s quality standards.
3. The US has uncovered tainted pet food, toothpaste, and sea food from China.
4. 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year, mainly from air pollution in large cities.

The author sums all this up as:

Taken separately, the issues with product quality, falling stock markets, and acute health problems may not represent substantial cracks in the country’s economic future. But, taken as a whole, they may well spell the onset of a troubled period.

The original post appears at 24/7 Wall St.

It is widely known that sixteen of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China. Financial Times is now reporting that “Beijing engineered the removal of nearly a third of a World Bank report on pollution in China because of concerns that findings on premature deaths could provoke ’social unrest’.” Guo Xiaomin, a Chinese official who co-ordinated the Chinese research team, said information on premature deaths “could cause misunderstanding”.

“We did not announce these figures. We did not want to make this report too thick,” he said in an interview.

The report, produced in co-operation with Chinese government ministries over several years, found about 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year, mainly from air pollution in large cities. China’s State Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and health ministry asked the World Bank to cut the calculations of premature deaths from the report when a draft was finished last year, according to Bank advisers and Chinese officials.

Advisers to the research team said ministries told them this information, including a detailed map showing which parts of the country suffered the most deaths, was too sensitive.

Read the complete Financial Times article: 750,000 a year killed by Chinese pollution.

Perhaps the most significant and lasting news of the past month is China surpassing the United States as the biggest producer of carbon dioxide. As a matter of policy, China has refused to set direct targets for the reduction or avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions.

On the one hand, China has accused Western nations of being the greatest cause of pollution, while on the other turning a blind eye to the severity of the problem:

Chinese industries have been hesitant to embrace unproven clean coal technologies which are still in their infancy in developed countries.

Get more details in The Guardian article China passes US as world’s biggest CO2 emitter.