VZCZCXRO2147
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHBJ #4176 3340553
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 300553Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2558
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 7207
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 6523
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 7564
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 1917
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 6104
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8516
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1459

UNCLAS BEIJING 024176 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR KARESH, A. ROSENBERG, MCCARTIN 
LABOR FOR ILAB AND MHSA 
TREAS FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN 
GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM EMIN CH
SUBJECT: Work Safety Minister Publicly Denounces 
Local Government Officials and Mine Owners Over Mine 
Deaths 
 
Ref: Beijing 23804 
 
¶1. (U) According to the State Administration for 
Work Safety (SAWS) 3,726 coal mine workers died in 
mine accidents between January 1 and October 31, 
¶2006.  This carnage has continued in November. 
Based on press reports alone, Embassy is aware of 10 
coal mine accidents in November, resulting in at 
least 204 deaths, and 73 missing workers.  In six of 
these cases, the mines either had no operating 
license or had been ordered closed before the 
accident but nonetheless were still in operation. 
Three cases occurred when mine operators ignored 
high gas levels and continued production in 
violation of standard safety procedures.  Following 
Central Government investigations, local governments 
arrested mine owners in only 3 cases.  Mine owners 
fled in four cases. 
 
¶2.  (U)  SAWS Minister Li Yizhong and other senior 
SAWS officials have made unusually blunt and public 
comments about collusion between local governments 
and unscrupulous mine owners in mine disasters.  In 
transcripts of a government teleconference among 
mine safety officials, cited in the press, an 
agitated Li complained that "local governments were 
willfully flouting national safety regulations."  He 
asked how many lives need to be lost before mine 
owners learn not to continue operations in the 
presence of high levels of gas, and pledged that 
government officials and agencies that help cover up 
the true state of small coal mines would be severely 
punished.  With regard to the November 25 gas 
explosion at the Changyuan coal mine in Yunnan 
Province, which killed 32 miners and injured 28, Li 
accused local governments, who kept the mine open -- 
after SAWS ordered it closed in August 2006 -- by 
closing other mines instead, of "fraud," of 
"backing" unscrupulous mine owners, and of 
"challenging the authority of the Central 
Government." 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  On November 30, Laboff asked a SAWS mine 
safety official whether the recent press attention 
to mine disasters, and SAWS' recent candid, public 
comments, presaged a central government crackdown on 
corrupt local government officials.  The SAWS 
official said that Li's comments reflect frustration 
after two years of working hard to improve China's 
mine safety record.  The official is not aware of 
any imminent crackdown or major regulatory changes 
in the works, but said that some corrupt officials 
will definitely be punished. 
 
RANDT