VZCZCXRO8803
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGH #0483/01 2140451
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020451Z AUG 07
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6101
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1311
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0786
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0808
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0806
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0924
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0645
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAEPA/EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 6543

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 000483 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/I ANN COVINGTON 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL- MCCASKILL AND NGUYEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PREL PHUM EIND CH
SUBJECT: WUXI EAGER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL COLLABORATION 
 
REF: A) SHANGHAI 420  B) BEIJING 4127 
 
(SBU) This cable is Sensitive But Unclassified.  Not for 
dissemination outside of USG channels. 
 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  During a July 19 meeting, Wuxi Environmental 
Protection Bureau (EPB) officials were eager to discuss the Lake 
Tai crisis and opportunities for cooperation; however, they were 
much less eager for Congenoffs to actually see Lake Tai.  Wuxi 
EPB officials vented their frustrations over structural 
challenges that hinder the ability of local EPBs to work 
together to prevent problems like the blue-algae bloom that 
occurred this spring and also to react to crises when they do 
occur.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
Wuxi EPB Welcomes Collaboration, But Wary of Showing off Lake Tai 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  On July 19, Congenoffs traveled to Wuxi, Jiangsu for 
meetings with the Wuxi Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) and 
to check on the status of the recovery of Lake Tai from the 
massive blue-algae bloom that occurred earlier this summer 
(reftel A).  Congenoffs were accompanied by ConGen's Science 
Fellow U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 
Director of China Initiatives Lida Tan. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Wuxi EPB Deputy Director Gu Gang indicated that he had 
been "extremely busy" in the past few weeks hosting "foreign 
visitors", including officials from a variety of foreign 
governments and international press.  Nevertheless, he seemed 
eager to discuss the crisis with Congenoffs and asked many 
questions about crisis response in the United States and about 
U.S. EPA's experiences in the United States.  He was 
particularly interested in the United States' experiences with 
water recovery, from both a technical and social angle.  Gu was 
also extremely interested in learning more about the concept of 
total maximum daily load and welcomed collaboration between the 
United States and China.  He said that Wuxi EPB was busy 
investigating the source of the pollutants in Lake Tai and it 
would like to create a more comprehensive nutrient source 
identification program.  (Note: In a meeting the previous week 
with Foreign Commercial Service Officers, Gu outlined specific 
technologies that the Wuxi EPB was looking to purchase 
including: ion ICP-MS, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, 
gas chromatography, and automatic speed solvent evaporation 
concentrators.  End Note.) 
 
¶4.  (U)  The Wuxi FAO readily agreed to bring Congenoffs to Lake 
Tai, however when the group arrived at the lake, Congenoffs 
realized that they were not at the main body of the lake, but 
rather a small inlet.  Wuxi Foreign Affairs Office Division 
Chief Zhao Wei said that the main body of the lake was "too far 
away" and that there was not enough time.  As soon as Congenoffs 
exited the car the foul odor of the lake, even though just a 
small inlet, was immediately noticeable and there appeared to be 
people cleaning the lake.  (Comment:  The assertion that there 
was not enough time to visit the main body of Lake Tai is 
dubious; the meeting with EPB ended early and the main body of 
the Lake was approximately 15 minutes further than the inlet we 
visited; if anything, there was too much time in the schedule. 
The Wuxi FAO appeared to have a prepared route for all visiting 
officials and they did not want to stray from and that they felt 
the inlet provided a "model" to emulate.  End Comment.) 
 
---------------------- 
Structural Challenges 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Deputy Director Gu's numerous questions about the 
interaction in the United States between federal, state and 
local governments led to a lengthy discussion regarding the 
administration of the Lake Tai watershed district.  The Lake Tai 
watershed district supports more than 40 million people in two 
provinces and much of the water in the district originates from 
the Yangtze River which flows through several additional 
interior provinces. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  According to Division Chief Zhao, there are four 
 
SHANGHAI 00000483  002 OF 002 
 
 
major administrative regions surrounding Lake Tai that encompass 
two provinces: Wuxi (4.5 million residents); Changzhou (2.3 
million residents); Suzhou (6 million residents) in Jiangsu 
province and Huzhou (2.5 million residents) in Zhejiang 
province.  The administrative regions are not allowed to deal 
with each other directly but must go through the cumbersome 
procedure of coordinating through the provincial headquarters in 
Nanjing and Hangzhou, respectively.  According to Gu, this meant 
that they rarely interacted with their counterparts in 
neighboring administrative regions, much less neighboring 
provinces. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The division of responsibilities at the national level 
compounded matters.  Unlike the United States where the EPA is 
responsible for both water quantity and water quality, in China 
the Ministry of Water Resources is responsible for managing some 
aspects of the watershed districts, such as water levels, while 
SEPA is charged with monitoring water quality. 
 
------------------------- 
Tough Decisions Ahead 
------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) Division Chief Zhao explained that by the end of 2007 
Wuxi will have closed more than 750 chemical factories and that 
the Wuxi government was in the process of drafting new 
regulations to further regulate the type and size of factories 
in the district.  The long-range plan is to relocate all of the 
factories to industrial zones located in 
less-environmentally-sensitive areas and provide centralized 
wastewater treatment plants.  Both Gu and Zhao acknowledged that 
implementing the new standards would be an enormous challenge 
and could have dramatic impact on the local economy and that the 
public's reaction to these changes could put the brakes on 
reform. 
 
---------- 
Comment 
---------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  While the actions and relative openness of the Wuxi 
government are encouraging, local officials will certainly face 
enormous economic pressures when closing factories, casting 
doubt on whether they will be able to keep their focus on only 
allowing environmentally sustainable factories in the area. 
Furthermore, existing institutional framework challenges 
compound this problem and will continue to hamper local 
governmental efforts to prevent and react to environmental 
crises.  End Comment. 
SCHUCHAT