China Reform Monitor: No. 891

April 1:

China’s recently-released defense white paper has endorsed cross-strait military talks: “The two sides of the Taiwan Strait can establish contacts and exchanges on military issues at an appropriate time, and explore establishing a military security mechanism of mutual trust.” This marks the first time Beijing has mentioned building a military exchange mechanism with Taipei as a goal in a policy document. The idea of military exchanges to promote stability was originally pitched by Taiwan’s President Ma Yingjeou during his 2008 candidacy but shelved in the face of opposition protest and fears that military talks might lead Beijing to reunification talks with Taipei. In response to the announcement, Taipei’s spokesperson stressed that there was no plan to hold cross-strait military talks and called on Beijing to “take the initiative to remove its military deployment against Taiwan,” the South China Morning Post reports.

April 2:

Eight officials have been suspended or removed from their posts for dereliction of duty as local authorities in Taizhou, Zhejiang disclosed that another four residents were suffering from elevated lead levels, bringing the total to 172 afflicted residents. A government investigation has indicated that untreated industrial emissions from a battery plant caused widespread lead contamination in the area’s water and soil. Police are investigating corruption between the management of the battery factory and local officials and have detained the plant manager, the official People’s Daily reports. The toxic spill was discovered in early March after residents of three villages were found to have high lead levels, which can damage the digestive, nervous, and reproductive systems. Inspectors have vowed to supervise thorough checking among the 100-plus heavy polluters in the city.

April 5:

“Chinese presence in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and the northern areas is increasing steadily [we] are concerned that if there was to be hostility between us and Pakistan, what would be the complicity of the Chinese [sic]. Not only they are in the neighborhood but the fact that they are actually present and stationed along the Line of Control (LoC),” Indian Army Commander Lt-Gen K.T. Parnaik said in comments carried by the Times of India. He added that the Chinese footprints are “too close for comfort” for India. The Indian army commander said close cooperation between the Chinese and Pakistani military “jeopardizes our regional strategic interests in the long run and facilitates speedy and enhanced deployment of Pakistan armed forces to complement China's military operations and thus outranks India.” Beijing is laying an extensive network of roads across areas as distant as Skardu, Pakistan and Kunming, Yunan. China has already constructed vast infrastructure networks connecting its logistic centers and major defense installations in Tibet, which dot the Indian border in south-eastern Jammu and Indian-administered Kashmir.

April 6:

China has tightened regulations on the use of lead, mercury and other heavy metals in a bid to reduce contamination from the toxic metals, according to Beijing’s 12th Five-Year Plan to Combat Heavy Metal Pollution. From 2011-15 Beijing will spend 75 billion yuan ($11.4 billion) to cut the use of five toxic heavy metals – lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and arsenic – by 15 percent from 2007 levels. That year Chinese industries discharged 900 tons of the five metals into the environment. China’s Ministry of Environment Protection listed 138 zones in 14 provinces and regions as its major monitoring targets including Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai. Furthermore, 4,452 enterprises, including non-ferrous metal mines, smelters, lead-acid battery manufacturers, leather producers and the chemical industry, are to be closely monitored for the use of heavy metals. “More than 30 major heavy-metal poisoning incidents have occurred since 2009, posing a grave threat to public health, especially to children,” Zhou Shengxian, head of the Ministry of Environment Protection said in comments carried by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.