Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BEIJING24176
2006-11-30 05:53:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

Work Safety Minister Publicly Denounces

Tags:  ELAB PGOV PHUM EMIN CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2147
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHBJ #4176 3340553
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 300553Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2558
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 7207
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 6523
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 7564
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 1917
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 6104
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8516
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1459
UNCLAS BEIJING 024176 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT PASS USTR FOR KARESH, A. ROSENBERG, MCCARTIN
LABOR FOR ILAB AND MHSA
TREAS FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN
GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM EMIN CH
SUBJECT: Work Safety Minister Publicly Denounces
Local Government Officials and Mine Owners Over Mine
Deaths

Ref: Beijing 23804

UNCLAS BEIJING 024176

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT PASS USTR FOR KARESH, A. ROSENBERG, MCCARTIN
LABOR FOR ILAB AND MHSA
TREAS FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN
GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM EMIN CH
SUBJECT: Work Safety Minister Publicly Denounces
Local Government Officials and Mine Owners Over Mine
Deaths

Ref: Beijing 23804


1. (U) According to the State Administration for
Work Safety (SAWS) 3,726 coal mine workers died in
mine accidents between January 1 and October 31,

2006. This carnage has continued in November.
Based on press reports alone, Embassy is aware of 10
coal mine accidents in November, resulting in at
least 204 deaths, and 73 missing workers. In six of
these cases, the mines either had no operating
license or had been ordered closed before the
accident but nonetheless were still in operation.
Three cases occurred when mine operators ignored
high gas levels and continued production in
violation of standard safety procedures. Following
Central Government investigations, local governments
arrested mine owners in only 3 cases. Mine owners
fled in four cases.


2. (U) SAWS Minister Li Yizhong and other senior
SAWS officials have made unusually blunt and public
comments about collusion between local governments
and unscrupulous mine owners in mine disasters. In
transcripts of a government teleconference among
mine safety officials, cited in the press, an
agitated Li complained that "local governments were
willfully flouting national safety regulations." He
asked how many lives need to be lost before mine
owners learn not to continue operations in the
presence of high levels of gas, and pledged that
government officials and agencies that help cover up
the true state of small coal mines would be severely
punished. With regard to the November 25 gas
explosion at the Changyuan coal mine in Yunnan
Province, which killed 32 miners and injured 28, Li
accused local governments, who kept the mine open --
after SAWS ordered it closed in August 2006 -- by
closing other mines instead, of "fraud," of
"backing" unscrupulous mine owners, and of
"challenging the authority of the Central
Government."


3. (SBU) On November 30, Laboff asked a SAWS mine
safety official whether the recent press attention
to mine disasters, and SAWS' recent candid, public
comments, presaged a central government crackdown on
corrupt local government officials. The SAWS
official said that Li's comments reflect frustration
after two years of working hard to improve China's
mine safety record. The official is not aware of
any imminent crackdown or major regulatory changes
in the works, but said that some corrupt officials
will definitely be punished.

RANDT