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China’s Environmental Whitewash

Nov 19 , 2014

A week after President Obama and other world leaders enjoyed unusually blue skies over the APEC summit in Beijing, factories have restarted and smog has returned. So it’s a good time to consider an overlooked aspect of last week’s celebrated U.S.-China climate deal: Can an authoritarian government clean up its environment even as it persecutes citizens who sound the alarm over pollution?

Wu Lihong is a former factory worker from a village outside Shanghai along Lake Tai, China’s third-largest freshwater body. After petitioning local officials about industrial waste poisoning the lake, Mr. Wu was jailed for three years on trumped-up extortion charges. Since his 2010 release, he has faced regular surveillance and had his passport revoked. Warned to keep quiet, he still traveled to Beijing during this year’s National People’s Congress, hoping to reach the Supreme Court. Police found him, held him overnight and returned him to his village.

Or take Liu Futang, a retired forestry official on Hainan island, China’s southernmost province, where he tried to publish a book warning against deforestation. For this he was charged with running an illegal business—printing books without a license. In 2012, weeks after China’s top leadership pledged to build an “ecological civilization,” Mr. Liu was sentenced to three years in prison.

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