First a denial, then a cover-up: how China lied to its people
Saturday, 26 November 2005
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Officials in Jilin City in China misled the public and then tried to dilute a huge benzene spill that had contaminated drinking water, it was revealed yesterday.
One hundreds tons of the carcinogenic chemical were discharged into the Songhua river earlier this month after an exposion at the 101 Chemical Plant in Jilin. The river supplies water to Harbin, the largest city in north-east China, which had its mains supply cut off this week.
Despite knowing that the blast had caused the equivalent of 10 tankerloads of benzene to enter the river on 13 November, Jilin officials told Chinese media the next day that the blast did not cause any air or water pollution. They also wanted to use reservoir water to dilute the pollution. The handling of the incident was an embarrassing and untimely reminder of the Chinese authorities' propensity for covering up bad news.
In a further blow to the credibility of the authorities, it was also revealed that another chemical plant had suffered an accident. The explosion at a chemical plant in Dianjiang county in Chongqing in western China killed one worker and caused the closure of two schools and the evacuation of at least 6,000 people, after strong-smelling smoke enveloped the area.
The incident, earlier this week, was not made public until yesterday - a cover-up reminiscent of the way Beijing tried to conceal the Sars outbreak in 2003.
There has been outrage in the Chinese media over the plight of 3.8 million of Harbin's nine million residents, who have been without water since midnight on Tuesday, but senior officials were still insisting that the authorities acted in an appropriate manner.
"There are many ways to release the information," said Zhang Lijun, the deputy director of China's State Environment Protection Administration at a press conference. "Making it public is one way, and only informing local governments and enterprises along the route of the contamination is another way. What the Jilin government did was feasible and OK."
For the people of Harbin and the surrounding area, however, the delay in informing them may have fatal consequences. The 50-mile slick of contaminated water reached the city on Thursday and is expected to pass it by the end of today, but concerns are mounting over how long the benzene might remain in the river. "Toxic chemicals still exist [in the water] because the river is freezing up. From now until spring next year, we will have to adopt various methods to handle [the spill] to make sure the water is safe," said Harbin's mayor, Shi Zhongxin.
The governor of Heilonjiang province, of which Harbin is the capital, expressed fears about rural areas. "Some people may not be aware of the government's announcement and may have mistakenly drawn water from the Songhua," said Zhang Zuoji.
Harbin was calmer yesterday, as bottled water became readily available in shops and 10,000 police patrolled the streets. But plane and train tickets out of the city were still in short supply. Hospitals were stockpiling antidotes to benzene poisoning, which is fatal in large doses, and wells were being dug.
