Premier Li Keqiang was recently quoted as saying that the government will wage a war against pollution across China.
Increasingly, it seems, that war might be fought on the polluted streets of this vast country as citizens come out of their homes to protest against environmental degradation, often clashing with the police and sending alarm bells ringing along the ornate and opaque corridors of power in the Communist country.
If the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) under President Xi Jinping’s close scrutiny is carrying out a wide-spread anti-corruption campaign, people in some regions are carrying out a campaign of their own – sporadic street campaigns against pollution. Or to be a little more specific – against polluting industries.
There are no leaders. Groups of residents in towns and cities in China have been storming the streets, voicing their protests against the setting up or expansion of industries they think will pollute and contaminate their world – the water they drink and use, the soil they sow.
Chinese authorities have been unable to stop these “mass incidents” – something which the CPC detests and usually takes a hard stand against — from taking place
Late last month, the latest such protest broke out in the town of Maoming – which is already the largest petro-chemical base in the region — in south China’s Guangdong province, the country’s industrial hub.
On March 30, hundreds of Maoming residents, took to the streets to protest a proposed expansion to an existing petrochemical plant jointly run by local government authorities and Sinopec Corp, China’s powerful state-owned oil company. The expansion involved producing paraxylene, also known as PX, an important component in plastic bottles.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the chemical might trigger harmful side effects with long-term exposure.
Clashes erupted between the demonstrators and the police. According to reports, the protests later spread to other cities in the province like Shenzhen.
IN the last couple of years, similar protests were staged across southern Chinese cities. The protests have turned violent at times with protesters targeting government buildings and official cars. In retaliation, the police have targetted the citizens as well. Many were jailed and detained.
According to the official news agency, Xinhua, since 2007, planned PX projects in Xiamen, Dalian, Ningbo and Kunming were cancelled after residents protested. It is not yet clear if the Maoming government will follow suit.
In 2007, thousands of people in east China’s city of Xiamen protested the construction of a PX plant over health concerns. The plant was eventually relocated.
Similar protests have also been reported in the cities of Chengdu, Nanjing and Qingdao.
In 2012, thousands had marched through the eastern Chinese city of Ninbo demanding that the government halt the expansion of a petrochemical project which they felt would have harmed the environment.
And in 2013, residents of the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the expected production of a toxic chemical at a refinery.
The Maoming protests were widely covered by the state media as well though it was often to say that the protests were only carried out by a handful of people.
A Xinhua commentary said that the latest incident showed that the “…quandary for a local government seeking a balance between development and stability never ends.”
It added that the protests reflected the growing public opposition across China to projects deemed dangerous or polluting.
“For many in Maoming, a series of deadly oil pipeline blasts in a petrochemical base in east China’s Shandong Province in November rammed home the potential danger of having a similar facility on their doorstep. The explosions in Shandong’s Qingdao City left 55 people dead and nine missing. Growing public upset over pollution, and a lack of communication between local authorities and citizens has meant that antipathy to PX projects is becoming more common,” it added.
How Xi’s government tackle the rising concern over environmental pollution remains to be seen. Premier Li had also said during last month’s National People’s Congress that pollution in China was the result of a skewed development model. It’s good that the government has at least acknowledged that because many in China already know it.