Incident at Jilin: wake-up call or business as usual?

• Position: Jilin disaster yielded major political fallout

On November 13, 2005, an explosion at a state-owned chemical plant in northeastern China's Jilin province released 100 tons of benzene and other pollutants into the region's Songhua River, killing five people and injuring 60 others. Within two weeks, the 80-kilometer-long toxic slick had flowed 370 kilometers north to Harbin, China's eighth largest city (population 3.8 million). As the tainted waters passed, residents endured four days without public water, and shortages caused widespread panic. Other downstream locales, including Khabarovsk, the largest city in Russia's Far East, witnessed similar scares, though most retained their water supplies.

Apart from the economic, ecological, and social consequences of the disaster, and unlike most industrial incidents in China, the Jilin disaster yielded major political fallout. Initially, factory and local government officials denied that the blast released any pollution and continued to repeat such statements for more than a week. As the slick approached Harbin, city officials informed residents they were shutting down the water supply to "carry out repair and inspections on the pipe network." It was only 10 days after the explosion that China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) finally confirmed that a "major water pollution incident" had occurred. The following day, journalists published a series of reports detailing efforts by officials to cover up the incident.

Fearing further damage to the credibility of the Communist Party, the Chinese government launched a full response. SEPA officials invited United Nations officials to test water along the river and provide expertise in chemical contamination and public health. After issuing a formal apology to Russia, China announced that it would set up a hotline to keep Moscow informed as the pollution approached Russian territory. In the town of Dalianhe, near the border, Party members went door to door distributing bottled water. Convoys of water trucks decorated with red banners proclaiming "Love the people--deliver water" drove through some cities, and residents were warned not to use the river water. Zeng Yukang, deputy general manager of China National Petroleum Corp., proprietor of the Jilin plant, went so far as to express "sympathy and deep apologies" to the people of Harbin. And in January, SEPA earmarked US$3.3 billion to clean up the river by 2010.

Perhaps most remarkable was the unprecedented shake-up in the government...