Tired of being told about the nation’s bad air quality, China’s government demanded the United States stop publicizing pollution readings taken from its embassies in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

 

For the past four years, American officials have posted information on China’s air pollution using Twitter. The readings have corresponded with scientific data compiled by experts, including those at Yale University who rank China 116th of 132 nations in the Environmental Performance Index.

 

Wu Xiaoqing, China’s vice minister for environmental protection, publicly called for the U.S. to stop posting its findings. Wu accused American officials of not abiding “by the spirits of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” and of violating “relevant provisions of environmental protection.”

 

Liu Weimin, a foreign ministry spokesman, said the U.S. is welcome to collect air-quality information from its consulates. Just don’t publish it on the Internet.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

China Asks Embassies to Stop Measuring Air Pollution (by Keith Bradsher, New York Times)

China Tells Embassies To Stop Issuing Pollution Data (Agence France-Presse)

US Launches Air Pollution Data in Shanghai (Agence France-Presse)

Asian Pollution Hitting U.S. West Coast (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Who’s to Blame for China’s Pollution? (AllGov)