According to a senior US official, every country should shoulder
responsibility for pollution, and China and India have been
unfairly characterized as the only polluters.
Steven Johnson, administrator of the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), made the remarks at the US Consulate General in
Shanghai on Thursday, in order to correct a report which he says
misquoted him as blaming China for causing high mercury deposits in
the US.
A report in the Financial Times on April 11 entitled,
"Toxic Chinese mercury pollution traveling to US" quoted Johnson as
saying: "The EPA had traced high levels of 'mercury deposits' in
the US to China and India" and "that is the most direct impact of
China's pollution on the US".
"Unfortunately, I was misquoted and what I said was taken out of
context. It's unfair to characterize the pollution coming just from
China and India," Johnson said, adding that other countries
including the Republic of Korea and the US all contributed to
global air pollution.
Approximately 2,000 tons of mercury are unleashed on the
environment globally every year. Emissions from coal-fired power
plants in the US alone amount to 48 ton, he acknowledged.
"That's why it's critical that we all work together to address
the air pollution issues," he said.
Johnson was satisfied with his "productive" China tour, during
which a series of agreements and cooperation projects were reached
between the respective environmental protection departments.
A Sino-US program was launched on Monday to enhance bilateral
cooperation in the prevention, management and treatment of
hazardous and solid wastes in China, in a bid to reduce their
negative impact on human health and ecosystems.
The joint initiative, dubbed the "Strategy for Hazardous and
Solid Waste Cooperation", was adopted during a meeting between Zhou
Shengxian, head of China's State Environmental Protection
Administration (SEPA),
and Johnson in Beijing.
Further, China and the US and several other nations are
developing a program called the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean
Technologies and Climate Change.
Another international project involving China, which aims at the
efficient use of coal with zero emissions, is already underway in
the US.
"Both the US and China are vital to the health of our
environment," Johnson said, stressing that the countries should
"not only be major contributors to the world economy, but also
major contributors to improving environmental health".
Through collaborative work, "we can make a difference," he
said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2006)