China Shifts Pollution Blame

By Radio Free Asia
December 18, 2006

Chinese officials are trying to deflect blame for the country’s pollution onto foreign firms, accusing them of “environmental colonialism,” experts say. The move follows government concern over thousands of anti-pollution protests in the past year.

In a December 3 opinion piece in The Washington Post, a leading China analyst called the effort a “blame game.”

Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia studies at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, said that Chinese officials, the press, and some activists have charged multinational corporations with “exporting pollution” by sourcing their products in China and ignoring environmental rules.

Economy said the campaign aimed at foreign investors began in October when Pan Yue, deputy director of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), accused developed countries of practicing “environmental colonialism” by investing in China’s polluting industries.

Similar accusations followed, including a report by China’s Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, which published a list of over 2,700 “serious polluters,” including 33 joint ventures of multinational corporations.

The group’s list included Chinese affiliates of Panasonic, PepsiCo, and Nestle among other foreign firms, according to a report in the official China Daily.

According to Economy, Chinese press reports “focused exclusively on the 33 multinationals … and ignored the more than 2,600 Chinese companies similarly cited. The reason, she thinks, is that worldwide attention has been drawn to China’s pollution problems with the approach of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Officials have sought to avoid blame after a wave of over 50,000 environmental protests in the country last year, she said.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Economy said, “I think blaming foreigners is a very attractive way of deflecting attention, and perhaps even deflecting some of the social unrest away from corrupt local officials and poorly enforced regulations and onto the international community.”

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