China tells US to stop reporting Beijing’s bad air!!

[Supply&Demand]

China tells US to stop reporting Beijing’s bad air

China told foreign embassies Tuesday to stop publishing their own reports on air quality in the country, escalating its objections to a popular US Embassy Twitter feed that tracks pollution in smoggy Beijing.

Only the Chinese government is authorised to monitor and publish air quality information and data from other sources may not be standardised or rigorous, Wu Xiaoqing, a vice environmental minister, told reporters. China has long taken issue with the US Embassy’s postings of hourly readings of Beijing’s air quality on a Twitter feed with more than 19,000 followers since 2008. But its past objections were raised quietly. U.S. consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou also post readings of the cities’ air quality on Twitter.

The Twitter feeds were operating normally Tuesday, and an embassy spokesman in Beijing said the air quality reports were meant to inform Americans living in the three Chinese cities. The air quality readings in Beijing are based on a single monitoring station within embassy grounds, and pollution levels are rated according to a US Environmental Protection Agency standard that is more stringent than the one used by the Chinese government. For instance, the US Embassy on Tuesday reported 47 micrograms of fine particulate matter — particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size, or about 1/30th the width of an average human hair — in the air and said the level was “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” Readings from Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau’s 27 monitoring stations ranged between 51 to 79 micrograms but categorised all those levels as “good.”

The Beijing government only began reporting PM2.5 earlier this year after long-standing public and international criticism of its lack of transparency about its air quality. The government appears frustrated that there are now dueling readings for air quality and that the US readings underscore the fact that pollution levels considered unhealthy in the US are classified as good by China. Wu said it isn’t fair to judge Chinese air by American standards because China is a developing country and noted that US environmental guidelines have become more stringent over time.

The standard China uses “takes into account the level of our current stage of development,” Wu said. Wu also said that air quality monitoring by foreign diplomats was inconsistent with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and urged diplomats to abide by China’s laws and regulations.

It is unclear if other nations monitor and publicize their readings of air quality in Chinese cities, but local Chinese have used the U.S. readings to prod their government into publishing more detailed pollution data. Later, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin echoed Wu’s remarks, saying at a regular press briefing that China objected to the publicity rather than the gathering of the environmental data. “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 released to the public,” Liu said. The top environmental official in Shanghai over the weekend also spoke out on the issue, telling local media that an air quality feed launched last month by the US consulate in Shanghai was illegal.

The US Embassy said the air quality monitor in Shanghai measures the air quality in the area around the consulate’s office. “The monitor is an unofficial resource for the health of the consulate community,” said Richard Buangan, embassy spokesman in Beijing. China requires concentrations of PM2.5 to be kept below daily averages of 75 micrograms per cubic meter — more than twice as lenient as the US Environmental Protection Agency’s standard of 35 micrograms. PM2.5 are believed to be a health risk because they can lodge deeply in the lungs, and have been linked to increased cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer.

An eye opener for all those China is all golden...just because Chinese state propaganda media does not report does not mean everything is hunky dory...
here u see China wants US and other foreign media groups to not report its environmental issues..

 

[perplexed]

When u enter Beijing u can almost smell the foul industrial effluents all around.. the air is so bad that u will almost choke..

Please get an inhaler the next time u go to any city in China.. sad but true

 

[kawaraj]

this is a thread only to invite your own embarrassment. Air in Indian cities only get worse time by time if this economy is continue growing.

 

[Tractor]

In addition the weather is hot now,air quality looked more worse for high density of moisture and the smelling is awful at street corners where the rubbish container standing.It' true and people are used to(maybe).

 

[itaskol]

An eye opener for all those China is all golden...just because Chinese state propaganda media does not report does not mean everything is hunky dory...
here u see China wants US and other foreign media groups to not report its environmental issues..

we told US to stop reporting beijings bad air. because we are going to implement our standard this years,
China’s new PM2.5 annual standard (35 µg/m3) is for national implementation in 2016. 2012 implementation of new
standard: for Beijing, Tianjin, YRD, PRD, municipalities and provincial capital cities...
and do you india even know your Annual PM2.5 Standards? the congress Party is fooling you all the time.
your Annual PM2.5 standard is far above 35 µg/m3. and your Status of 24-hour PM2.5 Standard is IT-1 (75 µg/m3), standard of PM2.5 in India is lower than the lowst level.

Status of Annual PM2.5 Standards in Asia (March 2012)

 

[Supply&Demand]

Atleast we dont lie about our country's conditions...Our success and failures when found out are promptly reported to the public..In China it is not...thats why u never hear China's failures...the only time u hear is when there is no way the Chinese gov cant cover up something...


China tries to fool the world as if it is a super power in making..the only super power it will be is in fooling its own people...

 

[itaskol]

Atleast we dont lie about our country's conditions...Our success and failures when found out are promptly reported to the public..In China it is not...thats why u never hear China's failures...the only time u hear is when there is no way the Chinese gov cant cover up something...


China tries to fool the world as if it is a super power in making..the only super power it will be is in fooling its own people...

the measuring result from china or USA are almost the same. only the standard of PM2.5 is different.
It is nothing about lie.
but your Congress govement is indeed fooling their own people all the time with the lowst measuring standard.

 

[Supply&Demand]

the measuring result from china or USA are almost the same. only the standard of PM2.5 is different.

then why to whine and ask US not to report..u can ignore..or if ur gov felt too strongly about this..they could have argued this on Xinhua etc..

 

[itaskol]

then why to whine and ask US not to report..u can ignore..or if ur gov felt too strongly about this..they could have argued this on Xinhua etc..

because USA always try to make china look urgly.and we care about our reputation. USA report chinas air with USA PM2.5 standard. It is not fair.

 

[Chinese Century]

then why to whine and ask US not to report..u can ignore..or if ur gov felt too strongly about this..they could have argued this on Xinhua etc..

because this has nothing to do with air pollution.

its about the US interfering in china's internal affairs, it has no right to report on anything. its a clear violation of national sovreignty.

unlike india, we dont bow down to the whites.

its the 2nd time they have interfered in our internal affairs, the last time was chen guangcheng incident.

there are US NGOs causing trouble in china as are american expats.

the americans think they can do whatever they want, that might work in american colonies like india, but it aint gonna work in china.

 

[Tanja]

There are a lots of thing that China censors well. Human rights, pollution, transparency...almost everything on Chinese media is lie