Environmental Protection a Higher Priority in the PRD...For

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000426 CONFIDENTIAL SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/23/2032 TAGS: SENV PGOV CH SUBJECT: Environmental Protection a Higher Priority in the PRD...For Now REF: A) 06 Guangzhou 30165, B) 06 Guangzhou 30248, C) 08 Guangzhou 418 Classified By: Consul General Robert Goldberg; reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Is Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang serious when he talks about the importance of environmental protection as part of his "mind emancipation" campaign? Two of our local contacts closely linked to environmental protection efforts believe that he is. They tell us that Wang wants to make the Pearl River Delta (PRD) into a model of environmental protection for the rest of the country, although there appears to be resistance from some local government officials. The provincial government's commitment to environmental protection is evidenced by the focus on the quality of new investment rather than quantity. Air quality ratings calculated by the PRD Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network (PRD Monitoring Network) are often at variance with the Air Pollution Index (API) figures released by the central government, leading many to question the reliability of the central government's statistics. According to one official with the provincial Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB),Guangdong has not backed down from strict targets announced in conjunction with Hong Kong in 2002. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang is placing a higher priority on environmental protection than his predecessor, according to Consulate contacts. Peter Pak-yan Leung, the Director of Hong Kong's Economic and Trade Office in Guangzhou (HK ETO),told us that Wang had a "much closer" relationship with the Hong Kong government than did Zhang Dejiang, the previous Guangdong Party Secretary, and that he appeared genuinely interested in collaborating to reduce air and water pollution. Leung also told us that Hong Kong investors had been complaining in recent months that the Shenzhen mayor and other officials would no longer meet with them. In the past, Leung said, local officials would spare no expense wooing overseas investors, but recently many officials seemed more concerned about environmental protection than bringing in new factories. He highlighted the fact that new promotion criteria for public officials have shifted the emphasis "from quantity to quality," placing greater importance on environmental protection. ¶3. (C) Zhong Liuju, the Deputy Director of the Guangdong EPB's Environmental Monitoring Center, told us that the provincial government was working together with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Hong Kong government to substantially expand and upgrade the PRD Environmental Monitoring System. Zhong said that Party Secretary Wang wanted to balance economic growth and environmental protection and have the PRD serve as a model for the Yangtze River Delta and other parts of the country. (Note: Guangzhou was selected in 2007 by the Ministry of Environmental Protection as a "National Model City for Environmental Protection." According to the local government, of all the cities selected throughout China, Guangzhou has the largest GDP, the largest urbanized area, and the highest number of industrial enterprises. End Note.) ¶4. (C) The EPB's Zhong also asserted that the Guangdong government had not backed down from the emission reduction targets for 2010 made in a cross-border agreement with the Hong Kong government in 2002. The Guangdong government had announced much looser targets in 2005, reportedly angering Hong Kong lawmakers (ref A). Zhong explained that the targets announced in 2005 were set by the central government, and that the Guangdong government remained committed to meeting the goals it had earlier agreed to with Hong Kong. Still, HK ETO's Leung asserted in a separate meeting that the stricter goals for 2010 will not be achieved, due to worsening levels of pollution. ¶5. (C) In spite of new emphasis on environmental protection, Zhong told us, the EPB still has difficulty getting most government officials to pay attention to its research. He commented that the elevation of SEPA into a cabinet ministry had made a big difference, however, because EPB officials could now take part in the decision-making process. Before SEPA's elevation, he said, they could only observe while the provincial government formulated policies with far-reaching consequences for the environment. Zhong also told us that he foresaw a continued, gradual increase of the EPB's influence, as a new generation of better educated and more receptive officials comes to power and the media and public start to exert greater pressure on the government (ref C). ¶6. (C) Zhong told us that a growing controversy surrounding discrepancies between air quality statistics further illustrated commitment by the provincial government to environmental protection. He explained that data from the PRD Monitoring System frequently differed from the central government's API, which is published for each of the major cities in China and determines whether a particular day is considered a "blue-sky day." The EPB publishes both sets of statistics on its website, and Zhong said that many people have started questioning the accuracy of the API figures. (Comment: The two sets of statistics have different methodologies and probably GUANGZHOU 00000426 002 OF 002 shouldn't be directly compared, but it hasn't escaped the public's attention that the central government's figures typically show lower levels of pollution than do those of the PRD Monitoring System. End Comment.) Zhong told us that there has been considerable pressure from local governments to remove the PRD Monitoring System statistics from the public website, but so far the provincial government has supported keeping them. Zhong commented that the success of environmental monitoring in the PRD is entirely up to the Guangdong government, saying that if the provincial leadership withdraws its support, "I may be fired." ¶7. (C) Zhong also told us that the monitoring system being used to create the AQI statistics released by the central government was "unreliable" and "presents a poor view of the situation." He said that he had some confidence in the data produced by the PRD Monitoring System, although he allowed that there was much that could be improved. While the PRD Monitoring System currently only measures a handful of pollutants, Zhong told us that the upgraded system, which should be in place by early 2009, would measure 60 different pollutants. The EPB is also working to add 12 new sites to the system, he said, bringing the total number of stations to 28 in 21 cities. Zhong expressed cautious optimism that the EPB would be allowed to publish data from the upgraded system, including some of the more politically controversial pollutant levels, such as extremely small respirable particulate matter (PM2.5). GOLDBERG