Originally published December 18 2005
Communists display their power during Chinese water crisis
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
During the recent toxic chemical spill in a river near Harbin, China, communist officials organized security teams to oversee water distribution centers and quell any unrest that might be sparked by the water shortage.
As residents of Harbin waited to turn their taps back on after a five-day shutdown, China's Communist Party officials was already lauding the pollution crisis as a display of its strength and authority.
On Sunday the toxic chemical spill on the Songhua river that threatened water supplies passed beyond the northeastern city of 9 million, and piped water was due to be restored within the day.
"People have seen the government's ability and decisiveness in dealing with the water shutdown, and the rapid victory has created confidence in the government," commented the official Xinhua news agency.
Indeed, over the past week, Harbin reverted to traditional Communist mobilisation of thousands of party members, officials and soldiers to ensure the city's water shutdown did not spark wider social unrest.
Now the city faces a glut of bottled water.
But if the city's ordeal demonstrated the Party's continued organisational muscle, it also laid bare Chinese officials' habitual reluctance to share information with citizens.
At a time when China faces major health threats such as bird flu and AIDS, this habitual secretiveness can worsen the very crises the Party aims to solve, said Mao Shoulong, a public policy expert at the People's University of China in Beijing.
"China still has powerful organisational resources, and they can be mobilised to cope with crises, but they can also become an obstacle to communication and coordination," he said.
After a chemical plant in nearby Jilin exploded on Nov.13, officials there hid the fact that 100 tonnes of benzene had washed into the nearby Songhua river.
"Jilin went directly to Harbin, not to the provincial or central government, because it hoped to deal with this secretly," said one of the businessmen, who requested anonymity.
"This was a warning bell for China."
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