Icy hand of China corruption bared.

It took Old Man Winter to reveal the corruption involved in China's Great Leap Forward into market capitalism. The poles that were made in the bad old times when China was so "backward" remain standing-- about all that is left of communism in China:
Beijing Youth Daily reported on February 25 that two major types
of
concrete electricity poles are currently used. One was produced and
erected
in the 1950s and 1960s, the other type is those produced and erected
after
1999 when the reformation of the rural power grid started. These two
types
of poles performed differently in the snowstorms. The older ones stood
erect, while 90% of the newer types jack-knifed.



Icy hand of China corruption bared

By Zhang Yi
Asian Times
March 6, 2008

Hong Kong - There is a Chinese saying that damages from a natural
disaster
can be largely amplified by a man-made calamity, the latter being more
scary
than the former.

In the aftermath of the worst snowstorms in 50 years that devastated
vast
areas in east and south China for two weeks ahead of the Chinese lunar
new
year holiday in early February and killed at least 107 people and
caused
billions of dollars in direct economic losses, Chinese authorities have
discovered that substandard electricity poles used in some regions
broke
apart in the storms, causing power blackouts.

It turns out that the huge damage caused by the snowstorms may be at
least
partially blamed on some artificial factors.

As reported by the Chinese media, an unspecified number of concrete
power
poles in South China's Guizhou province, which were jack-knifed by the
snowstorms to interrupt electricity supply, have been found to have had
no
required reinforcing steel bars inside. Instead, small iron wires were
used
to replace the reinforcing steel bars. Vast areas in mountainous
Guizhou
province suffered the worst power blackouts amid the snowstorms due to
the
collapse of pylons and poles for overhead transmission.

Critics said flaws in the government system had led to incompetence in
combating corruption, which in turn made the situation even worse.

A devastating natural disaster like the snowstorms is certainly beyond
human
control. However, analysts say, what a government can and must do is to
prevent man-made factors from worsening the damage caused by the
natural
disaster. In the case of Guizhou, had qualified materials been used,
power
blackouts might not have been so serious or lasted so long.

The Beijing News, an outspoken and influential daily based in the
Chinese
capital, reported that in Guizhou's Kaili prefecture, a huge number of
power
poles turned out to be produced with substandard materials, as no
reinforcing steel bars were found inside when they broke and collapsed
in
snowstorms.

Embarrassed by the report, officials with the state-owned China
Southern
Power Grid Co, the monopoly power supplier for South China, said that
no
hard evidence had been found yet, but stressed that the producers and
suppliers of substandard products would definitely be forced out of the
power grid market.

But Beijing News was not the first to expose the use of problematic
power
poles. Beijing Youth Daily reported on February 25 that two major types
of
concrete electricity poles are currently used. One was produced and
erected
in the 1950s and 1960s, the other type is those produced and erected
after
1999 when the reformation of the rural power grid started. These two
types
of poles performed differently in the snowstorms. The older ones stood
erect, while 90% of the newer types jack-knifed.

According to reports, most of the broken poles exposed small-diameter
iron
wire instead of strong reinforcing steel bars as required by production
standards. In one estimate, in Kaili prefecture alone, over 10,000
poles
were broken and still need to be replaced.

As it is clear power shortages in many places were caused by the poor
quality of electricity poles rather than by the snowstorms, the Chinese
government is obligated to launch a thorough investigation. Producers
and
suppliers of the substandard poles, and those who approved the purchase
and
use of them, are in the firing line. As is often the case, official
corruption is likely involved in such massive production and use of
substandard products.

In response, China Southern Power Grid has dispatched six quality
supervision teams to Guizhou to supervise the replacement of
substandard
poles. On February 23, the company summoned some 41 electrical material
suppliers to underscore the need to guarantee the quality of all
disaster-relief supplies. The company also sent a warning that
substandard
material suppliers will be barred from the domestic market.

On websites, many Chinese netizens have applauded the news media for
once
again playing an important watchdog role. Blogs and websites across the
country are urging the the government to make a thorough investigation
into
the scandals - including the possible involvement of official
corruption -
and to punish those who used their power to protect groups with vested
interests.

Also, Beijing is being called on to review and improve its mechanisms
aimed
at curbing the corruption that now runs rampant in almost every sector
of
society.

Analysts point out that one root cause of corruption is the difficult
task
of reining in over-empowered local officials, and the best way to fight
corruption and reduce its damages is to introduce a system of
checks-and-balances.

Even President Hu Jintao, in his speech to the National Congress of the
Communist Party last October, called for separation and mutual checks
on
decision-making, supervisory and executive power. For the very first
time,
he also put on the party's agenda the need to "protect people's rights
to
know, to participate, to express themselves and to supervise". It is
time
for the party to put Hu's ideas into practice.

******

Zhang Yi is a contributor to the Chinese-language edition of Asia times
Online.

Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JC06Ad01.html