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A senior Chinese official demanded on Tuesday that foreignembassies stop issuing air pollution readings, saying it was against the law and diplomaticconventions, in pointed criticism of a closely watched US embassyindex. The level of air pollution in China's heaving capital varies,depending on the wind, but a cocktail of smokestack emissions,vehicle exhaust, dust and aerosols often blankets the city in apungent, beige shroud for days on end. Many residents dismiss the common official readings of"slight" pollution in Beijing as grossly under-stated. The US embassy has installed a monitoring point on its roof whichreleases hourly air-quality data via a widely followed Twitterfeed. The US consulate in Shanghai provides a similar service. While China tightened air pollution monitoring standards inJanuary, the official reading and the US embassy reading can oftenbe far apart. Chinese experts have criticized the single US embassy monitoringpoint as "unscientific". Deputy Environment Minister Wu Xiaoqing went a step further, sayingsuch readings were illegal and should stop, though he did notdirectly name the United States. "According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations… foreign diplomats are required to respect and follow locallaws and cannot interfere in internal affairs," Wu told anews conference. "China's air quality monitoring and information releaseinvolve the public interest and are up to the government. Foreignconsulates in China taking it on themselves to monitor air qualityand release the information online not only goes against the spiritof the Vienna Convention … it also contravenes relevantenvironmental protection rules." The US embassy acknowledges on its website(beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn) that its equipment cannot berelied upon for general monitoring, saying "citywide analysiscannot be done … on data from a lone machine". Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment onWu's criticism. Wu said China's air quality standards were drawn up inconsultation with the World Health Organisation and "accordedwith the present situation in our country". Despite his criticism, Wu acknowledged that China's airquality and overall environmental situation remained precarious,with more than one tenth of monitored rivers rated severelypolluted, for example. Wu said the government was studying a long-mooted environment taxon polluting industries, though he did not give a timetable forwhen it might come into effect nor give details of how the taxmight work. "We need to make sure that certain companies are fulfillingtheir environmental obligations," he added. The tax"will ensure companies bear a corresponding cost for thedamage and pollution their emissions cause". I am an expert from tinplatesheet.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Laminated Steel Manufacturer , Galvanized Steel Profile, Tin Plate Sheet,and more.
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