From the AP:
HARBIN, China – Visiting Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local leaders to clean up toxic benzene by Sunday night from the river that provides water for this northeast city, where residents spent a fourth day Saturday without supplies in freezing weather.
The foreign minister, meanwhile, delivered an unusual public apology to Moscow for possible damage from the spill on the Songhua River, which is flowing toward a city in the Russian Far East.
Beijing’s show of care and contrition was almost unprecedented and represented an effort to restore its damaged standing with both China’s public and Moscow, a key diplomatic partner…
…Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing’s apology to Russian Ambassador Sergei Razov was reported on the state television evening news, which is seen by hundreds of millions of Chinese.
“Li Zhaoxing expressed his sincere apology on behalf of the Chinese government for the possible harm that this major environmental pollution incident could bring to the Russian people downstream,” the report said.
It was an extraordinary step for the newscast, which usually carries only positive reports about China’s foreign relations…
Here’s one form of apology I wish corporate wrongdoers in the US would adopt:
The plant was run by a subsidiary of China’s biggest oil company, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., which issued an apology this week and sent executives to help dig wells in Harbin.
Meanwhile, the UK Guardian reports on how the crisis has impacted Harbin’s poorest residents:
For the first time in her life Mrs Li is thinking of splashing out on a bottle of water. It may only cost 7p, but for the migrant mother living in one of the city of Harbin’s poorest neighbourhoods, anything but tap water has, until now, been an unthinkable extravagance.
Decision time is looming. Since China’s biggest recent pollution scare prompted the authorities to cut off water supplies two days ago, the 25-year-old has conserved every drop. She no longer washes the family’s hair and clothes. She eats only bread, buns and other food that does not require water for cooking. And, though it worries her immensely, she has stopped boiling her baby’s bottle to keep it sterile.
But her family’s supplies are already running out. Unlike most of the rest of the city’s 3.5 million residents, she had no bath or barrels to fill when the government warned everyone to prepare for a dry patch. Instead, the family of three drink and wash from three small buckets that are fast emptying.
“We can probably manage for a day or two more, but if it goes on much longer I’ll be very worried,” she said. “I never imagined this would happen when I came to live in the city.”……Despite freezing temperatures, people queue on the streets with kettles and flasks when the emergency water tanker, a converted street cleaning truck, pulls in once a day with fresh supplies. For some there is even an air of festivity. “It’s a bit like the war,” says one veteran. “Everyone pulling together and the [communist] party providing for us.”
But in the poorer parts of town there is resentment that the burden and the risk are not being equally shared. “It is all right for the rich and the communist cadres,” said Zhu Yuan Liang, a scrap collector. “But most people are poor and cannot afford to waste money on bottled water.”
The Guardian article also contains an interesting speculation::
The exposure of the cover-up may have been a ploy by central government to make companies and local authorities more responsible for the environment. According to Chinese journalists the order to go public came directly from the state council – led by prime minister Wen Jiabao. A day later Mr Wen held a meeting with ministers in which he emphasised the environmental woes facing China.
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By Laowai 19790204
(a bit tongue-in-cheek, but…) Message to polluters: It’s okay to pollute and kill peasants with your effluent and toxic waste, but if you poison a trading partner…. there’ll be hell to pay!
Again, China’s looking out for their own. Communists supplying for the people, hooray!
November 26, 2005 @ 5:39 pm | Comment
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By Other Lisa
I left out a lot of bits where Premier Wen talks about serving the masses…
November 26, 2005 @ 5:44 pm | Comment
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By Laowai 19790204
It’s ironic because the river, even without the benzene spill, probably isn’t safe enough to drink anyway and most likely violates Chinese law, but that will be swept under the rug and conveniently ignored, thank you very much, by the brilliance of Wen’s humanitarian spirit. What a great guy.
November 26, 2005 @ 6:11 pm | Comment
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By Imagethief
Weekend PR Blog: The Harbin Water Crisis
A couple of days ago, in response to a link I posted to his
roundup of articles on the Harbin…
November 26, 2005 @ 8:13 pm | Comment
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By Imagethief
Weekend PR Blog: The Harbin Water Crisis
A couple of days ago, in response to a link I posted to his
roundup of articles on the Harbin…
November 26, 2005 @ 8:38 pm | Comment
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By sun bin
thanks for this post, esp the migrant worker.
some migrant may simply move back to rural area (like during sars), but there are many who can’t do that, like the one reported.
November 26, 2005 @ 8:46 pm | Comment
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By HongXing
It’s ironic because the river, even without the benzene spill, probably isn’t safe enough to drink anyway and most likely violates Chinese law, but that will be swept under the rug and conveniently ignored, thank you very much, by the brilliance of Wen’s humanitarian spirit. What a great guy.
Do you have scientific knowledge? No one said people in Harbin drink directly from those rivers! There are many stages of purification that goes on at water processing departments. And at the last level, most citizens in China use water filters such as Brita or Meiling. If you think Chinese people drink river water directly, your image of China is totally distorted by things.
November 26, 2005 @ 10:18 pm | Comment
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By Thomas
HongXing,
I really don’t think Mrs. Li is using a Brita. And from my experience on the mainland, most people don’t have their own filter, and you are advised not to drink the tap water even after “purification.” And, seeing as how it’s a well-known fact that most of China’s water is undrinkable, it’s not such a stretch to speculate that water leading out of a city such as Jilin would be polluted. Plus, since Laowai said “probably,” no evidence is needed. It is speculation. So don’t be so defensive.
November 26, 2005 @ 11:46 pm | Comment
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By myrick
Lisa, I’m not what you meant by this: “Here’s one form of apology corporate wrongdoers in the US would adopt.” Do you mean that US corporates should engage in more superficial PR activities after massive screwups? I’ve had quite enough of that already.
November 27, 2005 @ 5:12 am | Comment
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By Laowai 19790204
Hong Xing, you are quite right to press me. But it is speculation, although I’m pretty sure it is correct. the river itself IS overly polluted even when there are no special toxic spills, and even if the peasants in the city somehow find the cash to
don’t you see that the burden of proof shouldn’t be on me to prove that the facilities are not safe, but rather for other people to prove that they ARE safe? Otherwise we live in a very strange world.
And yes, I am a scientist. My hypothesis goes like this: Givens: 1) the river is polluted. 2) the river provides 80% of the tap water to Harbin. 3) Whatever refining facilities they have (probably just chlorination and filtration) can’t handle a lot of benzene. Therefore, I hypothesise that it doesn’t remove the other chemicals the other 361 days of the year.
It’s not my job to prove anything. It is the job of those who say it IS safe to prove it. If people are dying, it’s not my fault. It’s the people who say it is safe. Therefore I don’t have to prove anything, I just have to raise questions.
Anyway, there are many people in Jilin who live along the river and whose wells are near to the river. And I’ll bet you ANYTHING that the benzene got into their wells, and I’ll bet that they weren’t ever told by the provincial government not to drink the water.
Check out this link about this exact issue: http://tinyurl.com/9spmh
So get off my back, Hong Xing. I’m WORRIED about residents in Harbin, especially the poor ones. is that bad?
November 27, 2005 @ 6:15 am | Comment
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By Shanghai Slim
Many seem to be questioning why a factory producing toxic chemicals was located next to a river.
The answer seems obvious, you just have to think like a top-level Chinese industrial plant manager: it’s a lot cheaper to dump waste products if the factory is located right next to the river. If it’s far away, the cost of building one of those “secret pipes” is much higher, in addition to higher pumping costs and greater risk of discovery.
You see, it’s simple business sense.
November 27, 2005 @ 7:04 am | Comment
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By Laowai 19790204
Hong xing – did you look at the link?
November 27, 2005 @ 11:53 am | Comment
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By Other Lisa
Myrick, no – I was snarking – I was referring to the part where the guilty executives had to go dig wells in harbin.
November 27, 2005 @ 2:02 pm | Comment
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By Laowai 19790204
It appears that actually, the residents of Harbin were the lucky ones – check out the link that shulan gives in the post above: China’s Press Kicks some…
November 27, 2005 @ 2:54 pm | Comment
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By Laowai 19790204
Hong Xing, Check out the posts by “Admiral” I think you guys have a lot in common.
November 28, 2005 @ 2:08 pm | Comment
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By Kevin
I’ve been to Harbin. No one ever told me the tap water came from the songhua. If I had known, I would have gotten nowhere near that water.
Hongxing wants to ask what we know? Hongxing, ya ever been to Harbin? Ever looked at that river? It is really one of the grossest sights I have ever seen. And then, ya wanna talk about purification? I’m sorry, but I’ve never been particularly impressed with purification or cleaning done here, even during the “cleaning storm” during SARS.
And the last claim was just over the top: “And at the last level, most citizens in China use water filters such as Brita or Meiling.” I have never seen a Brita in China. Something tells me you’re a little out of touch there, hongxing, embracing an imagined reality with open arms.
November 28, 2005 @ 6:47 pm | Comment