Activist hails critical Three Gorges Dam report

Asian Economic News, June 12, 2000

BEIJING, June 8 Kyodo

China's most prominent environmental activist hailed the government's admission this week that the controversial $70 billion Three Gorges Dam project was causing severe environmental problems along China's Yangtze River.

"This is very good," said Dai Qing, editor of "Yangtze!, Yangtze!" a 1989 collection of interviews, banned in China, on the potential environmental hazards of the project.

"But it is really what we have been expecting for years," she added.

Dai said it was the first time that a professional department of the government had openly admitted the project could seriously harm the future reservoir area for the dam.

The litany of environmental problems listed by the State Environmental Protection Office's report, distributed earlier this week, include disruptions in migratory bird patterns, soil erosion, deforestation, landslides and the accumulation of industrial pollutants that "are an huge hidden danger to the water conservation area behind the dam."

"In the past, none of the professional departments dared to have an opinion that went against the State Council's position. This is the first time since 1989 that the government has seriously addressed this problem," she said.

"They have never used such strong language," Dai said.

Dai, a journalist for the official Guangming Daily before the 1989 Tiananmen student protests, attributed the government's new frankness to pressure from Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

"Environmental protection is a large part of the 'Develop the West' strategy, so my guess is that Zhu allowed the Environmental Protection Office to issue this report, which should put pressure on the Three Gorges project administrators to pay attention to the environment," she said.

The project seeks to reduce the income disparities between the relatively prosperous coastal provinces and the economically backward western areas of the China.

She said the government report ignored the most serious issue -- the sedimentation of the future 600-kilometer reservoir -- noting that last month a group of 53 scientists and engineers petitioned the government to address the problem.

"Yangtze!, Yangtze!" and Dai's newest work, "The River Dragon Has Come!" argues that the dam, scheduled for completion in 2009, will soon be choked with river silt, resulting in the inundation of priceless cultural relics, and could force many endangered native animal species into extinction.

"If the government cannot resolve these environmental issues, will they continue the project?" Dai asked.