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RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//J00/J2/J3/J5// 0020

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000553 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, DRL AND OES/PCI 
EPA FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PHUM ECON PGOV CH
SUBJECT: Quanzhou Officials Tell Their Side of the Wastewater 
Treatment Plant Story 
 
REF A: GUANGZHOU 545 AND PREVIOUS 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000553  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
(U) This document is sensitive but unclassified.  Not for internet 
distribution.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Quanzhou Foreign Affairs Office officials met 
CongenOff without warning at Xiamen Airport September 18 and offered 
to arrange meetings with local officials to discuss the continuing 
standoff at a suspect wastewater treatment plant.  Local officials 
disputed villager claims that the treatment plant was the source of 
elevated cancer rates in the area.  Officials claim not to have 
attempted to regain control of the facility because they do not want 
to aggravate the situation.  Officials appeared to contradict 
themselves when discussing whether untreated waste had been 
discharged directly into the sea.  The government is unwilling to 
relocate the plant.  Villagers, who are being closely monitored, are 
becoming increasingly hesitant to share information by telephone. 
End summary. 
 
An Unexpected Escort 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Deputy Director of the Quanzhou Foreign Affairs Office 
(FAO) unexpectedly met CongenOff at the Xiamen airport September 18 
and invited him on the spot into a car for an unanticipated 
discussion about a suspect wastewater treatment plant currently held 
by villagers in Fujian's Fengwei Township (reftel).  (Note: The 
Consulate had not advised FAO of CongenOff's planned travel to 
Xiamen.  End note.) The FAO official noted that his office had 
learned of the Consulate's interest in the situation and offered to 
set up meetings with local government officials to help provide a 
more complete picture of the situation. 
 
Official Contradiction -- and Confirmation 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) Quanzhou local government and officials from the 
Environmental Protection Bureau September 20 both contradicted and 
confirmed information about the wastewater treatment plant 
previously received from villagers.  Quangang District local Party 
Committee Member and Information Section Head Lin Yaoping said that 
although construction of the plant had been completed by the end of 
2007, the facility was not put into operation until mid-August, 
2009, due to delays in completing a network of feeder pipelines. 
Lin asserted that, since the plant had not handled sewage before 
mid-August, the facility could not have caused the alleged elevated 
rates of cancer in the village. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Lin contended that authorities had actively tried to reach 
out to and communicate with the villagers.  He said that 300 
government workers organized into 22 teams had already held over 50 
meetings in the village.  Officials held an informational meeting 
September 20 for representatives from the fishing and aquaculture 
industries to hear concerns and to offer assurances that the area's 
products were safe to eat.  Officials, Lin claimed, have not tried 
to regain control of the plant because they do not want to aggravate 
the situation. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Lin acknowledged that environmental sampling results showed 
that untreated waste from the plant contained elevated levels of 
cadmium and other chemicals.  He noted that the holding tank waste 
was untreated because the plant was still in a testing, 
pre-operational phase.  Lin asserted that the plant's treated waste 
water -- once fully operational -- would pass environmental 
standards.  He denied the villagers' assertion that the plant had 
discharged untreated waste directly into the sea but appeared to 
contradict himself on this point by unconvincingly asserting that 
temporary giant fire-hose-like tubes running from the holding tanks 
to the nearby sea were connected, underwater, with a deep sea 
disposal pipeline. 
 
Government: The plant cannot be relocated 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Lin said the government cannot accept the villagers' demand 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000553  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
that the plant be relocated.  When asked about government plans to 
peacefully resolve this situation, Lin said the government would 
continue to try to educate the villagers to gain their 
understanding.  He noted that villagers permitted officials to pump 
30 tons of a biological agent into the holding tanks September 13 to 
stem the stench.  Lin said that an investigative unit is 
investigating allegations of corruption by local officials in 
allowing businesses to send untreated industrial wastes to the 
facility, but said the allegations had not been substantiated. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Regarding villager allegations that more than ten villagers 
have been detained by police, Lin said he was unaware of any 
detentions but had been informed that six villagers had been 
questioned by police concerning illegal acts.  CongenOff asked the 
FAO for assistance in clarifying allegations that villagers had been 
detained, but by September 21 had not yet received a response. 
 
Villagers Being Closely Monitored 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) One villager told us separately that he had heard that a 
protest by villagers at the Quangang District Office had turned 
violent September 19, with villagers damaging the door to the 
office.  Police monitoring of suspected villagers has increased, 
with villagers increasingly reluctant to share information by phone. 
 One Fuzhou-based NGO told us that local People's Congress officials 
had urged it not to get involved in the Quangang wastewater 
treatment plant issue, with the congress officials saying villagers 
and their contacts were both being closely monitored. 
 
GOLDBECK