China Reform Monitor: No. 1079

December 30:

Vice Minister of Land and Resources Wang Shiyuan has announced that 8 million acres of China’s farmland, about the size of Maryland, have become so polluted that planting crops on it “should not be allowed.” The Ministry of Environmental Protection’s new book Soil Pollution and Physical Health, said one-sixth of China’s arable land – nearly 50 million acres – suffers from soil pollution. Each year, according to the Ministry, more than 13 million tons of crops are polluted with heavy metals and 22 million acres of farmland contaminated with pesticides. To cope with the problem the State Council has announced that starting next year it will create new systems to monitor soil pollution and create pilot treatment projects.

In 2012, Hunan produced 17 million tons of rice, 16 percent of China’s total, but was also a top producer of nonferrous metals and a leading emitter of cadmium, chromium, lead, and arsenic. Wastewater discharged in rivers seeped into irrigation contaminating crops and in May, when Guangdong officials found excessive cadmium levels in 155 rice batches collected from markets, restaurants and storehouses, 89 of them were from Hunan. Cadmium, which at high levels causes organ failure and cancer, can accumulate in rice plants, tainting the rice as well as animals that eat its husks. In Hengyang, Hunan (where the party chief was sacked last month for corruption) local protectionism has allowed chemical makers to dump toxic waste with impunity. Hunan’s 2010-2015 development plan pledged to increase the nonferrous metals industry’s revenues 18 percent per year and approved 80 new projects worth $10 billion, the New York Times reports.

January 1:

China first informed Japan about its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in 2010, according to documents obtained by the Mainichi Shimbun. The communication took place at the “Japan-China security issue investigation conference,” at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies in Beijing in May 2010. Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yingfan led the Chinese side, which included officers from various military institutions. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobuo Ishihara headed Japan’s delegation, which included prime ministerial aide Satoshi Arai, several vice ministers, and officials from the foreign and defense ministries. The meeting’s minutes reveal that the zone Chinese officials’ presented to Japanese counterparts in 2010 is about the same as the one the declared in November 2013. At the session a PLA official said the ADIZ would roughly match China’s exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf and suggested the two air forces develop rules to prevent clashes in the “overlapping 100 nautical miles.” A Japanese official replied: “China has not announced this ADIZ, so it’s impossible to say where our air defense zones overlap.”

January 2:

China has criticized the U.S. for resettling three Uighurs from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Slovakia and claimed they continue to “posed a threat to the security of China and the recipient country.” Beijing called on Slovakia “not to give terrorists habitat but to hand them over to China,” the United Press International reports.

January 3:

The PLA will launch a new “joint operational command” to enhance coordination among its combat-capable forces. Citing the Chinese defense ministry, Yonhap reports that Beijing will establish the new command system “in due course” and already has begun “pilot programs.” China has seven military regions with its army serving as the backbone force. Li Qinggong of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies said the navy will be the top priority. “China has built an iron bastion in its border region. The major concern lies at sea,” Li said.