UPDATE: Xinhua news agency covers the story, reprinted here in the China Daily, leading with the call for citizens’ opinions and suggestions during the 10-day public consultation period.
The Xiamen authorities put the potentially dangerous chemical project, known as the PX (paraxylene) plant in the city’s Haicang District, 16 kilometers from the city center, on hold on May 30 after coming under immense pressure from citizens virulently opposed to the project.
This is interesting, that Xinhua is referring to the plant as “potentially dangerous”. Could it be that someone in central government has taken against the project, because they don’t want a repeat of the Songhua River fiasco?
The local government had set two targets for the southern part of Haicang: to develop the area into a sub-center of the city and to create an industrial zone focused on the chemical industry.
However, according to the environmental assessment report, urban planners are advised to choose one or the other, but not both.
If the city government’s priority is the first target, then the area is unsuitable for the development of the chemical industry, the report says. If the latter, a number of residential buildings should be demolished, citizens should be relocated and strict controls over the chemical plants should be imposed, it continues.
This is also highly significant in that it appears to differ from the rather positive slant that the municipal government is putting on the environmental assessment. Xinhua is highlighting the experts’ opinions that people and chemical plants shouldn’t be mixed together.
UPDATE: This runs somewhat counter to the theory expressed in Jonathan Ansfield’s piece on the behind-closed-doors dealings in the Party on this project.
Mass protests in the southeastern port city of Xiamen earlier this year [see video] persuaded local officials to abandon plans to build a PX plant in the city for a while. But local residents are planning a new series of demonstrations as news has emerged that the government is once more pushing the proposal to the fore.
The municipal government held a news conference Wednesday saying that an environmental impact assessment into the proposed plant had already been completed, along with a public consultation lasting 10 days.
Online forums saw calls for further mass demonstrations in the form of a “collective walk” beginning at 10 am Saturday morning outside the municipal library, and walking to the city government offices to show the level of opposition to the plans.
One Xiamen resident told RFA’s Cantonese service that no formal notification had been sent out of a demonstration, but that he would definitely attend if other people did. “I would definitely go on a protest. We are all very concerned about this issue. This project would have an effect on the citizens of Xiamen if it were ever built. We are dead against such a thing.” He said he believed such projects should be built away from major population centers.
Another Xiamen resident agreed: “In another 10 days, the government will announce whether or not this project will go ahead. The environmental assessment came out yesterday. Now they are running a consultation to hear the opinions of ordinary citizens.”
An employee on duty at the Haicang district police station said so far no formal application to hold a demonstration on Saturday had been lodged with police. “As long as it is legal, the police will not interfere,” he said. “But if it’s illegal then the government will definitely intervene. Only protests which have been applied for and approved in advance are legal.”
Thousands of people marched in protest in Xiamen on June 1, carrying banners and shouting “protect our home, protect Xiamen!”
The proposed plant would produce P-xylene, a petrochemical used to make polyester and other fabrics. Demand for chemicals such as p-xylene is soaring as China’s export-driven manufacturing industries expand.
Local residents already complain of poor air quality around the Haicang district petrochemical development area, and are strongly concerned at the pollution risks of the project and the effect on public health.
Filed under: China, East Asia, Newsdesk, china_civil_rights, china_civilrights, china_health, china_internet, china_media, china_rights, china_unrest, east_asia, environment, governance | Tagged: china_environment, china_unrest, fujian, p-xylene, tenglong_aromatic_PX, xiamen, xiamen_px, zhao_yufen
[...] residents spontaneously took to the streets for “a walk”, demanding an end be put to the PX project. Bullog user Beifeng and one friendly international type rushed to the scene, and along with Bullog [...]