中国决定大连PX项目停产搬迁

中国官方周日下令一家化工厂停产，此前逾12000名示威者与防暴警察对峙，示威者以健康担忧为由，要求该厂搬迁。

在辽宁省大连市政府外的人民广场上，以年轻人为主的抗议者与警察发生了肢体冲突。

上周热带风暴来袭期间，生产有毒化学品对二甲苯(paraxylene，简称 PX)的“福佳大化”工厂险些被海水倒灌，这座东北城市市民的愤怒由此爆发。

抗议开始几小时后，大连市政府表示，已下令这家化工厂立即停产。市政府称，该厂将被搬迁。

中国的快速工业化和经济发展，导致了环境灾难和环境退化，大连这次事件是针对此类问题的最新一起抗议。中国政府面临一个两难困境，因为一方面它拒绝允许政治改革，而另一方面中国人变得越来越富裕，而且通过互联网联系在一起，对糟糕的治理提出批评，还不信任国家领导人。

周日，许多示威者高唱中国国歌，高举着爱国标语，这显然是为了避免遭遇官方经常对异见人士采取的严厉手段。

据官方的新华社报道，大连市委书记唐军和市长李万才承诺将该厂搬离大连，以求安抚人群。

但一些抗议者表示，在宣布搬迁时间表之前，他们将拒绝离开广场。

“福佳大化”工厂建在填海造地得来的土地上。上周一，政府疏散了这座巨大工厂附近的居民，当时，保护该厂的防波堤在一场热带风暴中被冲毁。

这座大型工厂距离大连这座600万人口城市的市中心大约20公里。

对二甲苯广泛用于油漆、塑料和聚酯的生产。慢性接触可能导致遗传缺陷和死亡。

大连市民抱怨称，他们对2005年动工的这座工厂的建设不知情。上周令市民更加气愤的是，有报道称，虽然该厂在2009年6月就全面投产，但直到去年4月，才获得了必要的环保批准。

中国很少就此类项目咨询公众意见，官员们往往强行推动大型工业项目上马，而置反对意见或环保法规于不顾。

2008年，中国南方城市厦门曾爆发抗议，迫使官方放弃建设一家类似PX工厂的计划。

但环保活动人士表示，如果大连官员兑现自己的承诺，那将是中国一家已经投产的大型石化厂首次由于公众关切而被搬迁。

与中国近期许多抗议活动一样，周日的示威显然是通过中国的微博和即时信息网站组织起来的。

Protest closes factory in China

Chinese authorities ordereda chemical factory to close on Sunday after more than 12,000demonstrators confronted riot police, demanding the plant’s relocationamid health fears.

Scuffles broke out between police and protesters, mostly youngpeople, in the public square outside the municipal government offices inDalian, Liaoning province.

Public anger in the north-east Chinese city erupted after the FujiaChemical Plant, which produces the toxic chemical paraxylene, or PX,came close to being inundated with sea water during a storm last week.

Hours after the protest began, the Dalian government said it hadordered the chemical plant to close immediately. It said the factorywould be relocated.

The protest was the latest againstenvironmental disasters and degradation caused by China’s rapidindustrialisation and economic development. China’s government faces adilemma because it refuses to allow political reforms, while thepopulation becomes increasingly wealthy, connected via the internet,critical of poor governance and distrustful of its leaders.

On Sunday, many of the demonstrators sang the national anthem andcarried banners emphasising their patriotism in an apparent attempt toavoid the harsh response often meted out to dissidents.

Dalian’s senior officials, Tang Jun, the Communist party secretary,and Li Wancai, the mayor, “tried to appease the crowd by promising tomove the plant out of the city”, reported the state-run Xinhua newsagency.

But some protesters said they would refuse to leave the square until a timetable was announced.

Last Monday, the government evacuated homes near the huge Fujia plant– which is built on reclaimed land – after waves from a tropical stormbreached a dyke protecting the plant.

The large factory is about 20km from the centre of the city of 6m people.

PX is widely used in the production of paints, plastics and polyester. Chronic exposure can result in genetic defects and death.

Dalian residents complain they were kept in the dark about the Fujiaplant’s construction, which began in 2005. Anger was further fuelledlast week when it was reported that although the factory started fullproduction in June 2009, it did not receive the necessary environmentalapprovals until April last year.

Public consultation over such projects is rare in China and officialsoften push through big industrial developments without heedingopposition or environmental laws.

In 2008, protests in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen forced authorities to scrap plans to build a similar PX plant.

But environmental activists say if Dalian officials follow through ontheir promises it will be the first time a large, operationalpetrochemical plant was relocated in China because of public concerns.

As with many recent protests in China, Sunday’s demonstration wasapparently organised through Chinese micro-blogging and instantmessaging websites.