China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.
Chinese Government Discloses Corruption, Mismanagement in Mining Sector
By Edward Cody in Beijing
Washington Post
23 December 2005
The Chinese government announced Friday that it found "astonishingly serious" corruption, chaotic management and lax enforcement of safety rules in investigating coal mine disasters that have killed thousands of Chinese workers this year.
Li Yizhong, who heads the cabinet-level Work Safety Administration, said at a news conference that 96 people have been turned over for criminal prosecution this year for their role in the explosions and floodings that occur with relentless regularity in the coal industry as mine owners race to keep up with demand.
In addition, 21 mine managers and 105 government and Communist Party officials were sanctioned administratively, including two deputy provincial governors, he said.
More than 6,000 miners perished in Chinese coal shafts during 2004, making mines in China the world's most dangerous. More than 4,000 were killed in the first nine months of this year and the rhythm has continued unabated, including 171 who died one month ago at the state-owned Dongfeng Coal Mine in frigid Heilongjiang province.
Li's presentation seemed designed to convey the impression that President Hu Jintao's government is going all-out to reduce the number of fatal accidents and to serve as a warning to officials and mine owners that they risk punishment if they continue to violate safety regulations.
"We hope that all coal mines will learn from the bitter lessons that these accidents have taught us, by strengthening their various measures to improve work safety," he declared.
But Li's report avoided tallying the overall death toll so far this year and did not mention the November tragedy at Dongfeng Coal Mine, the year's deadliest. Instead, he said only that 11 of this year's accidents killed 30 people or more and six of them killed 100 or more. Of those 11, he said, investigations have been completed on six.
The careful handling of statistics illustrated the sensitive political problem that mining disasters have become in China. For many Chinese, it is a given that local officials are taking payoffs to allow mine owners to get away with lax safety practices. The government's apparent inability to get a grip on this problem has raised questions about its repeated expressions of determination to improve what Hu calls "governing capacity."
Vows of a crackdown by Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior officials, which seem to follow each disaster, have so far had little effect. In part, this is because China's roaring economy has produced an insatiable appetite for coal, leading owners to take risks for increased production. In addition, the alliance between Communist Party officials and businessmen in China's cities, towns and villages has created many opportunities for what Li called "power-for-money deals made by some government officials in collusion with the mine owner."
At the Daxing Coal Mine in Guangdong province, for instance, the chairman and vice-chairman of the board were government officials and the mine was operating in defiance of a shutdown order when catastrophic flooding occurred Aug. 7, killing 121 people, Li said.
Another factor that arouses popular ire is the fact that many, if not most, coal miners are poor migrant workers so desperate for employment that they are willing to go down into the shafts under visibly unsafe conditions. The government's seeming inability to protect such vulnerable people has drawn condemnation from critics in China and abroad.
"After each coal mine disaster, particularly those which cause more than 100 deaths, we are told by government officials that they will close down all these unsafe coal mines," said the China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based monitoring group. "But as coal mine accidents happen again and again, and more workers lose their lives in the pits, we have to ask how effective are these emergency meetings, 'courageous and extraordinary' measures and 'strong determination' in reducing the soaring number of coal mine accidents."
Chinese Government Discloses Corruption, Mismanagement in Mining Sector
By Edward Cody in Beijing
Washington Post
23 December 2005
The Chinese government announced Friday that it found "astonishingly serious" corruption, chaotic management and lax enforcement of safety rules in investigating coal mine disasters that have killed thousands of Chinese workers this year.
Li Yizhong, who heads the cabinet-level Work Safety Administration, said at a news conference that 96 people have been turned over for criminal prosecution this year for their role in the explosions and floodings that occur with relentless regularity in the coal industry as mine owners race to keep up with demand.
In addition, 21 mine managers and 105 government and Communist Party officials were sanctioned administratively, including two deputy provincial governors, he said.
More than 6,000 miners perished in Chinese coal shafts during 2004, making mines in China the world's most dangerous. More than 4,000 were killed in the first nine months of this year and the rhythm has continued unabated, including 171 who died one month ago at the state-owned Dongfeng Coal Mine in frigid Heilongjiang province.
Li's presentation seemed designed to convey the impression that President Hu Jintao's government is going all-out to reduce the number of fatal accidents and to serve as a warning to officials and mine owners that they risk punishment if they continue to violate safety regulations.
"We hope that all coal mines will learn from the bitter lessons that these accidents have taught us, by strengthening their various measures to improve work safety," he declared.
But Li's report avoided tallying the overall death toll so far this year and did not mention the November tragedy at Dongfeng Coal Mine, the year's deadliest. Instead, he said only that 11 of this year's accidents killed 30 people or more and six of them killed 100 or more. Of those 11, he said, investigations have been completed on six.
The careful handling of statistics illustrated the sensitive political problem that mining disasters have become in China. For many Chinese, it is a given that local officials are taking payoffs to allow mine owners to get away with lax safety practices. The government's apparent inability to get a grip on this problem has raised questions about its repeated expressions of determination to improve what Hu calls "governing capacity."
Vows of a crackdown by Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior officials, which seem to follow each disaster, have so far had little effect. In part, this is because China's roaring economy has produced an insatiable appetite for coal, leading owners to take risks for increased production. In addition, the alliance between Communist Party officials and businessmen in China's cities, towns and villages has created many opportunities for what Li called "power-for-money deals made by some government officials in collusion with the mine owner."
At the Daxing Coal Mine in Guangdong province, for instance, the chairman and vice-chairman of the board were government officials and the mine was operating in defiance of a shutdown order when catastrophic flooding occurred Aug. 7, killing 121 people, Li said.
Another factor that arouses popular ire is the fact that many, if not most, coal miners are poor migrant workers so desperate for employment that they are willing to go down into the shafts under visibly unsafe conditions. The government's seeming inability to protect such vulnerable people has drawn condemnation from critics in China and abroad.
"After each coal mine disaster, particularly those which cause more than 100 deaths, we are told by government officials that they will close down all these unsafe coal mines," said the China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based monitoring group. "But as coal mine accidents happen again and again, and more workers lose their lives in the pits, we have to ask how effective are these emergency meetings, 'courageous and extraordinary' measures and 'strong determination' in reducing the soaring number of coal mine accidents."