New Chinese State Secret Being Released & The PRC Is Pissed

ralphrepo · Jun 5, 2012

From the New York Times:

June 5, 2012
China Asks Embassies to Stop Measuring Air Pollution
By KEITH BRADSHER

HONG KONG — After years of choking smog that stings the eyes and burns the lungs, regularly documented by an air sensor at the American Embassy in Beijing that posts the results hourly on Twitter, the Chinese government took a strong position on the issue on Tuesday. Wu Xiaoqing, the vice minister for environmental protection, demanded that foreign governments stop releasing data on China’s air. In a criticism clearly aimed at the United States, Mr. Wu said at a news conference that the public release of air-quality data by foreign governments’ consulates "not only doesn’t abide by the spirits of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, but also violates relevant provisions of environmental protection."

He complained that data from just a few locations were unrepresentative of broader air quality in China. He asserted that it was a mistake for a few of the consulates in China to be assigning labels, like "hazardous to China’s air based on standards that were drafted in industrialized countries and tightened over the course of many years. Such standards may not match conditions in developing countries like China, Mr. Wu said, adding that, "we hope the few consulates in China would respect our country’s relevant laws and regulations, and stop publishing this unrepresentative air-quality information."

In case anyone missed the point, Liu Weimin, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a briefing later in the day that, "Of course, if the foreign embassies want to collect air-quality information for their own staff or diplomats, I think that is their own matter, but we believe that this type of information should not be released to the public." The American Embassy began tracking and releasing air-quality data in 2008, followed by its Guangzhou consulate last year and the Shanghai consulate last month. Officials in China and Hong Kong have grudgingly responded by moving to release their own data on extremely fine particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, a size that penetrates particularly deep into lungs and has been linked to cancer and other respiratory problems. Public awareness in China of the health hazards associated with extremely fine particles has soared with the release of the American data, and particularly smoggy days now trigger a surge in mentions of "PM2.5" on Weibo, a popular Chinese miniblogging service similar to Twitter.

The criticism of the United States by Chinese officials comes after officials in Shanghai have recently taken exception to the public availability of data from the new monitor there. Richard L. Buangan, the American Embassy spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that the monitor "is a resource for the health of the consulate community, but is also available through our Twitter feed for American citizens who may find the data useful." He added, "We caution, however, that citywide analysis of air quality cannot be done using readings from a single machine." Mr. Buangan declined to comment on how the Vienna conventions might or might not have any legal bearing on the air monitors or the release of the data.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/w...uring-air-pollution.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
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What's funny about this is, that if a regular Chinese citizen collected, reported or blogged about such data, he or she risks being imprisoned for divulging information that is considered to be "state secrets" of the People's Republic. This has been the manner in which embarrassing information has been routinely suppressed in China, so that the average Chinese citizen hasn't a real clue as to what is happening in his own country. But, with this case, unfortunately for the party, there is little that they can do against the US consulate if it wishes to continue to collect and release this data.

reno · Jun 5, 2012

typical...

New Chinese State Secret Being Released & The PRC Is Pissed

ralphrepo Well-Known Member

reno Well-Known Member