Human Rights in China press release
Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that Three Gorges activist Fu Xiancai has appealed to the National People’s Congress (NPC) to intervene in his assault case. The Fifth Session of the Tenth NPC opened on March 5, while the Fifth Session of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) began on March 3.
(March 5, 2007) Prime Minister Wen Jiabao conceded Monday that China was failing on important energy and pollution goals and declared that the country must become more energy-efficient and quickly improve environmental protection to safeguard the long-term health of its booming economy.
Beijing: A Chinese activist working to help villagers displaced by the giant Three Gorges Dam and left paralysed after a beating last June, has appealed to China’s parliament for redress, according to a rights group.
(March 4, 2007) International input by leading experts will be considered in the drafting of China’s first energy law, industry executives told China Daily on Friday.
Chengdu: The central government has ordered water facilities in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province to help the drought-stricken city of Chongqing, the largest municipality in China.
(March 1, 2007) Dai Qing is a journalist-turned-environmental activist, whose family was part of the Chinese revolutionary "aristocracy." After her father was killed in battle with the Japanese in 1944, just three years after Dai’s birth, she was adopted by Ye Jianying, one of the top generals in the People’s Liberation Army. Ye also served as Defense Minister and was one of the most powerful men in China until his death in 1986.
(February 28, 2007) The proposed construction of a dam and hydroelectric plant on southwest China’s Nu River has sparked one of the country’s most heated environmental debates.
(February 27, 2007) Severe drought has had a debilitating effect on the Yangtze River, China’s longest waterway, over the last two weeks, leaving 1.5 million people in Chongqing Municipality with water shortages, local water authorities said on Monday.
(February 27, 2007) A senior environmental official has called on the legislature to amend its 17-year-old environmental law in order to make government officials accountable for pollution. "The government’s refusal or failure to fulfil its environmental responsibilities has seriously set back China’s environmental protection efforts," said Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
(February 23, 2007) China is on alert this year for the extremes of natural disasters. Water Resources Vice Minister E Jingping has warned local governments of the increasing possibility of floods in major rivers, and droughts elsewhere.
(February 12, 2007) China’s campaign to cut the amount of oil and power its galloping economy needs to keep growing notched up a modest success last year, with "energy intensity" falling sharply in the second half.
(February 12, 2007) Government auditors have discovered 280 billion yuan (US$36 billion) in accounting "irregularities" in companies and government departments across the country. The problems were found after checking the books of more than 137,000 organizations last year, the National Audit Office said on its Website yesterday, quoting a speech by chief Li Jinhua.
(February 10, 2007) China’s largest network for monitoring land subsidence, or land sinking, has passed appraisal tests, the China Geological Survey, a bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources, said yesterday.
(February 5, 2007) Following the release of an authoritative United Nations report that unequivocally links human activities with climate change, the rulers of the world’s most populous country are faced with the quandary of balancing prosperity against pollution.
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