Why China’s Pollution Laws are Merely Words on Paper

Article and image editing by Chris Harry

It is hugely ironic that ever since Premier Li Keqiang has declared war on pollution back in March the pollution in China's capital has steadily grown worse. 

Since January of this year, days at 200+ levels on the PM 2.5 index are the norm rather than the exception. This means that Beijing's air quality is regularly 20 times higher than the level that the WHO considers a health hazard. On many so-called "sunny" days here in the heart of the China Dream, the skies are often dingy and enveloped under a glowing grey of thick haze.

The reality on the ground is that pollution continues to worsen here in Beijing and in the rest of the country. Another reality in China is that many, if not most laws, are either not actually enforced or are enforced inconsistently at best. Laws in China are often only applied arbitrarily to the benefit of government officials and to the detriment of its citizens.

The current anti-corruption campaign is a perfect example of this. It is simply a 'campaign' and not the consistent application and adherence to any laws. The only likely concrete result of the anti-corruption campaign will be the transfer of money stolen from taxpayers by some targeted officials from rival party factions to other corrupt officials allied to the new leadership. Under the current system, which has no independent monitoring or judiciary, laws simply become tools in the hands of officials to enrich themselves, remove political rivals, deny citizens the right to monitor, protest or interfere with their interests and to consolidate their own power.

As things stand now, polluting factories will simply give bribes to get around legislation and the central government will likely neither enforce nor supervise the rules in any meaningful way. Regional government leaders will also avoid enforcement in order to increase the profits of local industry and to enhance their GDP growth track records whilst pocketing graft money from local polluters. 

In addressing the lack of results on the anti-pollution front the central government mainly blames regional governments (its favourite scapegoat) for causing the problem, but then fails to act to intervene or prevent 'regional pollution', which means the responsibility ultimately lies with Beijing. What is more, the levels of air and water pollution in the capital also speak to the lack of sincerity on the part of China’s central government to tackle pollution. Meanwhile, the majority of China’s top ten most polluted cities surround the larger region around the capital, which clearly demonstrates a lack of will or ability on the part of China’s national leaders to take concerted action to stem the tide of steadily rising pollution. 

Back in February, the local Beijing government failed to enact its own emergency measures when air pollution had risen to red alert levels of over 500 on the PM 2.5 index, so it does not appear that China’s central government is even committed to enforcing its own laws consistently. Therefore, it is fair to ask why regional governments would take state laws seriously. If central leaders consistently flout national laws and regulations, then why should regional leaders be expected to respect anti-pollution legislation? In fact, Beijing stands as the key obstacle to the enforcement of laws to actually curb pollution. A one hundred percent monopoly on power unavoidably translates into one hundred percent responsibility for the destruction of China's environment.

The most compelling evidence to suggest that ‘sweeping’ new laws will likely fail to have a great impact can be seen from the government’s past record on 'fighting' pollution. China has already enacted a whole range of laws and regulations to curb pollution in recent decades, yet the pollution continues to worsen as the environmental crisis continues to deepen. 

Laws have to be enforced in order to have any real effect. As long as China remains a corrupt country without a viable rule of law, anti-pollution laws are simply empty words on paper. The smog is very real and so far the implementation of anti-pollution legislation appears to be merely an illusory phantom with about as much substance as Emperor Xi’s China Dream.

Xi Jinping makes light of Beijing’s heavy air pollution

     In reference to Beijing’s air pollution, Xi Jinping said, “we mustn’t be impatient in the face of problems” and that we should, “adopt a calm and collected life approach toward these problems.” When describing the coal pollution and severe sandstorms of his youth in Beijing he further added, “Back then we didn’t have PM2.5, but we did have PM250.” According to the report by China’s Phoenix News, all those around him laughed aloud in response.

     Evidently, he seized the opportunity to make a light joke about heavy air pollution in Beijing and he almost appears nostalgic and accepting of the fact that Beijing has faced serious air pollution for half a century.

     Perhaps instead he should have said PM二百五 (er bai wu – another way of saying 250 in Chinese), which is also colloquial Chinese for a “dimwit” or “someone who says or does inappropriate or foolish things”.  

 

     On a more serious note, however, he seems to be attempting to defuse the issue by implying that Beijing’s air pollution was even worse back when he was a young boy, although I imagine very few people would find this convincing. Ironically, one could just as easily interpret his comments as a blunt admission that Beijing has been facing serious pollution for the last 50 years or so, most of the period in which China has been under communist rule. Perhaps it is also a subtle jab at the U.S. embassy's monitoring and publishing of air pollution in Beijing, despite being curtly requested by an unamused Beijing government to refrain from doing so. 

     Either way, it smacks of ill-advised hubris, but it is also consistent with so many of his bold pronouncements of late, inasmuch as it hints at the new ruler's confidence in his ability to control the course of events in China, quite likely stemming from his princeling pedigree as part of the red aristocratic elite which controls most of China's wealth and now has 4 members out of 7 in the inner sanctum of absolute power - the standing committee of China's politburo.

     In my humble view, it shows a serious lack of good judgement, and it will certainly not gain him any points in China or internationally. In a worst case scenario, PM er bai wu could become a damning and sarcastic sound bite that could easily gain traction among Chinese micro-bloggers and Chinese society at large that pokes fun at the leader’s cavalier approach to China’s serious and growing environmental crisis. Surely he would not want to go down in history as the leader who was smug about smog.

习近平把北京的严重污染当笑话看待

提到空气污染时，习近平说“不用着急”要“淡定面对它”。他还说小时候北京“没有PM2.5,但是有PM250”。对严重污染如此淡薄，还把它当作笑话来看待，连小布什很可能都不会犯这么低级的错误。如果把它说成PM二百五会不会取得更大的笑声呢？

Translation and Chinese/English commentary by Chris Harry

News source: Phoenix news report by Du Ping

Update: Bill Bishop seems to have already made a veiled reference to PM二百五(er bai wu) on Sina's Weibo Microblog today (March 7th, 2013).