China Announces New Measures to Curb Air Pollution

I will not believe this announcement just as I did not believe Pres Obama claim he was going to be transparent during his time in office. I will believe it when I see it. This statement by the Chinese is all for show, no substance. Same for the Pres.

Good announcement but now, as we say in Italy, real facts must follow the words.

Show me, don't tell me - Neil Peart of Rush

montgom626 said:

I will not believe this announcement just as I did not believe Pres Obama claim he was going to be transparent during his time in office. I will believe it when I see it. This statement by the Chinese is all for show, no substance. Same for the Pres.

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Trust me Chinese officials couldn't care less about the media. The Chinese government have actually invested heavily in hydro, wind and solar energy as well as electric cars the last 10 years. I would be more worried about state subsidies for home grown electric cars (such as BYD) than of them not being serious about their pollution problem.

montgom626 said:

I will not believe this announcement just as I did not believe Pres Obama claim he was going to be transparent during his time in office. I will believe it when I see it. This statement by the Chinese is all for show, no substance. Same for the Pres.

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Actually, they are going to be more effective in carrying this out than the USA. At the drop of a hat, they can order all factories closed, or all cars off the road and the citizens and companies HAVE NO OTHER WAY but to comply. There's no democrat vs republican politics, no senate and congress to spend days and months debating stuff only to end up with no result (Sequester did not get averted for example). If the Chinese cabinet has announced the measures, you can be sure the measures will be taken. The cabinet announces whatever their President wants.

The only problem is local officials down the line - local problems and corruption might impede the central government's actions.

EDIT: They did take drastic measures during the Beijing Olympics by the way. Clear blue skies there were broadcast to the whole world - all because the government declared that all factories had to shut, and cars were not allowed to be driven throughout the olympic period.
I don't think US Government can stop US citizens from driving, or for that matter, I don't think they can simply ORDER ford & gm to stop producing gasoline cars and make electric ones. That is something only China can do.

montgom626 said:

I will not believe this announcement just as I did not believe Pres Obama claim he was going to be transparent during his time in office. I will believe it when I see it. This statement by the Chinese is all for show, no substance. Same for the Pres.

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No. They have very, very real problems. China is a dictatorship with a growing middle class that's getting more agitated and mouthy by the day. Governments fear the middle class because they have the education, money and time to cause trouble.

ItsNotAboutTheMoney said:

No. They have very, very real problems. China is a dictatorship with a growing middle class that's getting more agitated and mouthy by the day. Governments fear the middle class because they have the education, money and time to cause trouble.

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But the wealthy middle class can be silenced with an order of a government position, and government officials can be bought with money from that wealthy middle class. Thus we have government officials who have amassed stupendous amount of wealth far exceeding their official salary. Common practice in China. I wouldn't be surprised to see these new laws softened up when money starts flowing into government officials' pockets.

Death penalty introduced for polluters with effect from June 19

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-06/19/content_16638624.htm

twinklejet said:

Death penalty introduced for polluters with effect from June 19
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-06/19/content_16638624.htm

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So they quickly went from "We don't really believe China is serious about this" to "Death penalty objectors are now pitted against environmentalists".

I need to get more popcorn so I'm prepared to watch this play out.

Doug_G said:

Death penalty? That's ludicrous! Severe penalties, sure, but death? China thinks they have a lot of spare people lying around so why not get rid of the bad ones???

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Must resist commenting about (female) children in China...

Doug_G said:

Death penalty? That's ludicrous! Severe penalties, sure, but death? China thinks they have a lot of spare people lying around so why not get rid of the bad ones???

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That's probably talking about severe toxic waste that causes direct death of many people. I guess they consider that murder (esp. if the people responsible knows it can cause death).

Mainly it's to address public concern about lots of recent high profile pollution cases that the current laws are too lax to address.