(1) New report from China’s top advisors admits big unrest
(2) Power ploys
(3) China’s eco conscience
(4) Three Gorges Dam: Premier Zhu stresses quality
(5) Activists warn investors about Yangtze banks
(6) Three Gorges dam makes smooth headway

(1) New report from China’s top advisors admits big unrest
June 3, 2001 — A New York Times article by Erik Eckholm reviews a “startlingly frank new report from the Communist Party’s inner sanctum” that describes a spreading pattern of “collective protests and group incidents” rising from economic, ethnic, and religious conflicts in China, and says relations between party officials and the masses are “tense, with conflicts on the rise.”

The unusual report, produced by a top party research group and published this week by a Central Committee press, makes urgent but vague recommendations for “system reforms” to reduce public grievances.

Reviewing trends in 11 provinces, the 308-page report cites growing social and economic inequality and official corruption as over-arching sources of discontent, and describes corruption as “the main fuse exacerbating conflicts between officials and the masses.”

Protests are becoming more confrontational, the Communist Party’s report says. “Protesters frequently seal off bridges and block roads, storm party and government offices, coercing party committees and government and there are even criminal acts such as attacking, trashing, looting and arson.”
The report warns that economic development must benefit the majority of people and that victims of change must be fairly compensated, an implicit admission that this has often not happened, Eckholm writes. [ Full Story ]

Though not specifically cited, the Three Gorges dam has seen its share of corruption-induced protests, followed by the state’s heavy hand to quash them. In April, Three Gorges Probe reported that four villagers from the Three Gorges area were arrested by local officials after protesting corruption and coercion related to the resettlement of thousands of fellow farmers. [See “Imminent Trial of Three Gorges Dam Protesters,” Human Rights Watch/Probe International Press Release, April 19, 2001.] Still in detention, the four men have been charged with disturbing public order, leaking state secrets, and “maintaining illicit relations with a foreign country.” Full Story ]

(3) China’s eco conscience
by Calum Macleod and Lijia Macleod, South China Morning Post
June 5, 2001 [ Full Story ]

(4) Three Gorges Dam: Premier Zhu stresses quality
June 4, 2001 — China Daily reports that Premier Zhu Rongji stressed that construction quality is of life-and-death importance to the Three Gorges Project. [ Full story ]

(5) Activists warn investors about Yangtze banks
May 31, 2001 — Environmentalists are warning investors that soon-to-be-issued China bonds will indirectly finance the socially and environmentally disastrous Three Gorges dam, IPS-Washington bureau reports.
Major investment banks, including, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Barclays Capital, are currently pricing approximately US$1.75 billion dollars in bonds for the People’s Republic of China.
While the banks maintain that the use of proceeds from the bonds is not slated for the dam but will support “general governmental purposes”, environmental groups point out that the preliminary prospectus of the bonds specifically mentioned the Three Gorges dam.

Activists say completion of the dam is not guaranteed, despite the Chinese government’s insistence that it is. As costs for completing the dam increase, the demand for foreign assistance is growing, they argue.

The dam’s future, “rests squarely in the hands of international bankers and investors”, says Dai Qing, a vocal Chinese environmental activist who opposes the project. “Only if they continue to lend to this project can this disaster continue,” she says.

The Financial Times reported in mid-May that sales of the China bonds were intended for the United States as well, but following pressure from activists, China decided to sidestep the US market. China may have also avoided selling the bonds in the United States because of new, more stringent securities disclosure requirements, including reporting on human rights issues.
U.S. activists are encouraging people to question the banks underwriting the China bonds if they have a bank account, credit card, retirement account or own shares in the banks. [Full Story ]

(6) Three Gorges dam makes smooth headway
April 23, 2001 — China Daily releases the latest official figures from the China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation. Since 1993, more than 300,000 people have been moved out of the reservoir area, and another 50,000 residents are expected to be resettled this year. By 2009, a total of 1.3 million people will have been resettled to make way for the world’s largest hydropower project, according to the corporation. [ Full story ]

– END –

All Chinese stories that are translated and published by Three Gorges Probe are as true to the original Chinese text as possible. Editing for English grammar and style is kept to a minimum in instances where misinterpretation may occur.

Three Gorges Probe is dedicated to covering the scientific, technical, economic, social, and environmental ramifications of completing the Three Gorges Project, as well as the alternatives to the dam. Three Gorges Probe welcomes submissions. As part of our service, we also reprint articles about the Three Gorges Project we feel will be of interest to our readers.

Publisher: Patricia Adams
Executive Editor: Mu Lan
Assistant Editor: Lisa Peryman