Smog is blanketing a total area of 1.3 million square kilometers across China, and Beijing is again choking with dangerously polluted air. The pictures of the city are almost enough to induce a coughing fit and the Beijing government has told residents to stay inside.
Some companies have told their employees to work from home while at least a handful of Beijing office workers are wearing gas masks at their desks. Pan Shiyi, a real estate magnate who has more than 14 million followers on Sina Weibo and who was instrumental in an earlier social media campaignto force the government to release more air pollution data, began a Weibo poll this morning asking if China needed a “Clean Air Act.â€
As of this writing, more than 30,000 people have voted and all but a few hundred were in support of the proposal. Mr. Pan has promised to deliver the results in a report to the Beijing municipal legislature, to which he is a representative.
Next week Beijing will enact a tighter emissions standard for new cars, matching the strictest European Union standards, but this pollution catastrophe will take many years and a huge amount of political will to fix. Professor Minxin Pei is one of many who believe that left unchecked China’s environmental crisis may ultimately threaten the Communist Party’s rule:
The Chinese middle-class, which is particularly conscious of quality-of-life issues, could very well become a powerful source of opposition to the party if it concludes that the one-party state is responsible for their daily miseries: poisonous air, toxic water, and unsafe food.
The case for decisive and quick action is compelling. The question is whether China’s ruling party will actually act, both for the long-term survival of the country and itself.
When faced with a true crisis, the Chinese Communist Party usually acts resolutely,but there is no quick fix for the environmental problems that have been building for decades.
Last week’s column discussed Caterpillar’s huge write-down of its acquisition of 2012 ERA Mining Machinery after discovering “multiyear, coordinated accounting misconduct.†Emory Williams, the former chairman of ERA, issued a statement on Monday in which he declared he was “shocked†that there was fraud at his former company.
THE ERA DEAL LOOKED EXPENSIVE at the time given its deteriorating financials. Ernst & Young and Deloitte, a firm with extensive experience with China frauds, were the auditors on the transaction. The Economic Observer, a well-regarded Chinese newspaper known for its investigative reporting, claimed in an article last week that:
One person who took part in the initial negotiations to acquire Siwei told the EO that he believed that someone working for Caterpillar’s acquisition team accepted bribes from Siwei, noting that “it happened inside a high-end entertainment center in Zhengzhouâ€.
Caterpillar appears to have bought itself a very large Chinese hairball, one that
will keep many lawyes busy for a long time.
Last week’s China Insider also discussed the tensions between Japan and China over the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. There were small signs of progress towards dialogue with Xi Jinping’s Friday afternoon meeting with Natsuo Yamaguchi, the leader of a junior party in the coalition government.
Mr. Yamaguchi delivered a letter from Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe and during the discussion Mr. Xi referenced a previous generation of leaders who at least the Chinese believe had agreed to shelve the dispute. There is now some talk of a possible summit but that may be too hopeful as neither side has given any indication it thinks the other even has any grounds for a dispute.
In symbolism that would not have been lost on the Japanese, Mr. Xi met with Mr. Yamaguchi in a room adorned with a large painting of the Xifengkou Pass on the Great Wall, site of a brief Chinese victory in a 1933 skirmish that was seen in Japan as a shameful defeat for the Imperial Army.
In a Jan. 25 interview with a Japanese newspaper Prime Minister Abe said that
“the idea of “shelving†the Senkaku Islands territorial dispute floated recently by a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official “is not applicable, as the Senkakus have long been a part of Japan.â€"There is no room for diplomaticdiscussion,†he said, reaffirming that from Japan’s perspective, there is no territorial dispute.
A resolution to this dispute still seems far away while the risk of a mishap around the islands remains. Meanwhile, patriotic shoppers in Shanghai are eagerly buying fish labeled as caught in the unpolluted waters around the Diaoyu Islands.
