“The Chinese regime is artificially distorting the severity of the current drought, saying that it is one that would only occur once in a hundred years or once in a thousand years,” said Dr. Wang Weiluo, a well-known water expert and hydraulic engineer who lives in Germany.
Dr. Wang asserts that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is distorting the drought’s extent. Droughts, he says, frequently happened in China’s history.
He believes that the CCP’s intention behind the exaggeration is to showcase its leadership and demonstrate that it can “prevail in battles with heaven and other natural disasters.”
“China’s geographic environment has an important characteristic, which is, the rainfall conditions in China are good; the total rainfall is relatively high and spread evenly across the country. Another advantage is that China’s rainfall and agricultural growth are synchronized,” he notes.
“One shortcoming is that rainfalls are not well balanced during the year. Therefore flooding happened quite frequently throughout the history of China, but not severe drought.”
“There has been no rain in some parts of China for more than 3 months, but it is not a severe drought. Though Chinese farmers are not able to water their fields, this drought has been mostly caused by human reasons. The areas hit by drought are mainly north of the Yangtze River, and some parts of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.
“The CCP said that the drought is a once-in-a-hundred years or a thousand years event. This can only be true for a small area, not for the entire country. This statement is an intentional distortion.”
Dr. Wang points out that there are two phases in the CCP’s water conservation effort: before the economic reform and after the reform, namely the “first 30 years” and “the second 30 years.”
During the “first 30 years,” Mao Zedong implemented a policy of “extensively developing agriculture and building up water conservation capacity” and many facilities were built during that period.
“Now, China has more reservoirs than any other country, officially 80,000 reservoirs. When unregistered ones are included, China has more than 120,000 reservoirs. Each river has its own reservoir and some cities, such as Beijing,have more than 80.
“Dam breaks happened last year in Fujian, Hainan, Jilin, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places, causing flooding. The CCP’s flood control department was ordered to remove all water out of these reservoirs, in order to prevent dams from breaking. Since September, however, after the rainy season, there has been no rain, so there is little water in the reservoirs to help with the drought.
“Therefore, the quality of the dams of China’s reservoirs is not good or secure, and cannot play its proper role.”
Next: The CCP Never Admits its Mistakes
“The CCP,” Wang continues, “extensively built water conservation projects during Mao Zedong’s time. It invested lots of money and built too many reservoirs. It has damaged the ecological environment. The reservoirs’ quality is also not good. Therefore, its policy was wrong, but the CCP never admits its mistakes.”
“During the ‘Southwest Drought’ last year, the CCP claimed that the reason is lack of water conservation facilities and reservoirs, and claimed that there is a need to build more reservoirs. The CCP does not admit it was caused by its own policy.
“This year, in an internal document, the CCP says that it will invest four trillion yuan (about US $0.7 trillion) within four years to build water conservation facilities. This is almost equivalent to the amount of money used to cope with the financial crisis in 2008. The CCP thinks that this investment will be able to achieve their goals. In fact, it cannot help at all. The CCP should first analyze what went wrong in the past, and then it can correct the mistakes.”
Wang pointed out that “While the CCP is trying to reduce agricultural taxes, it charges farmers for watering their crops. The CCP is the only government that charges farmers for water. Some of China’s rural areas still do not have tap water. Is the CCP short of money, pipes, or technology? No, it has all these. The CCP’s officials only want to show off their achievements and increase GDP growth.”
He said, “The CCP exaggerates in this way every year. Everything heard in the news about drought and all the data are from the CCP. After every drought, the CCP claims that China had an abundant grain harvest. The propaganda machines always attempt to turn a disastrous policy into an accomplishment.”
Read the original Chinese article.
Dr. Wang asserts that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is distorting the drought’s extent. Droughts, he says, frequently happened in China’s history.
He believes that the CCP’s intention behind the exaggeration is to showcase its leadership and demonstrate that it can “prevail in battles with heaven and other natural disasters.”
“China’s geographic environment has an important characteristic, which is, the rainfall conditions in China are good; the total rainfall is relatively high and spread evenly across the country. Another advantage is that China’s rainfall and agricultural growth are synchronized,” he notes.
“One shortcoming is that rainfalls are not well balanced during the year. Therefore flooding happened quite frequently throughout the history of China, but not severe drought.”
Severity Exaggerated
“There has been no rain in some parts of China for more than 3 months, but it is not a severe drought. Though Chinese farmers are not able to water their fields, this drought has been mostly caused by human reasons. The areas hit by drought are mainly north of the Yangtze River, and some parts of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.
“The CCP said that the drought is a once-in-a-hundred years or a thousand years event. This can only be true for a small area, not for the entire country. This statement is an intentional distortion.”
Extravagant Water Conservancy Projects End in Failure
Dr. Wang points out that there are two phases in the CCP’s water conservation effort: before the economic reform and after the reform, namely the “first 30 years” and “the second 30 years.”
During the “first 30 years,” Mao Zedong implemented a policy of “extensively developing agriculture and building up water conservation capacity” and many facilities were built during that period.
“Now, China has more reservoirs than any other country, officially 80,000 reservoirs. When unregistered ones are included, China has more than 120,000 reservoirs. Each river has its own reservoir and some cities, such as Beijing,have more than 80.
“Dam breaks happened last year in Fujian, Hainan, Jilin, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places, causing flooding. The CCP’s flood control department was ordered to remove all water out of these reservoirs, in order to prevent dams from breaking. Since September, however, after the rainy season, there has been no rain, so there is little water in the reservoirs to help with the drought.
“Therefore, the quality of the dams of China’s reservoirs is not good or secure, and cannot play its proper role.”
Next: The CCP Never Admits its Mistakes
Never Admits Its Mistakes
“The CCP,” Wang continues, “extensively built water conservation projects during Mao Zedong’s time. It invested lots of money and built too many reservoirs. It has damaged the ecological environment. The reservoirs’ quality is also not good. Therefore, its policy was wrong, but the CCP never admits its mistakes.”
“During the ‘Southwest Drought’ last year, the CCP claimed that the reason is lack of water conservation facilities and reservoirs, and claimed that there is a need to build more reservoirs. The CCP does not admit it was caused by its own policy.
“This year, in an internal document, the CCP says that it will invest four trillion yuan (about US $0.7 trillion) within four years to build water conservation facilities. This is almost equivalent to the amount of money used to cope with the financial crisis in 2008. The CCP thinks that this investment will be able to achieve their goals. In fact, it cannot help at all. The CCP should first analyze what went wrong in the past, and then it can correct the mistakes.”
Wang pointed out that “While the CCP is trying to reduce agricultural taxes, it charges farmers for watering their crops. The CCP is the only government that charges farmers for water. Some of China’s rural areas still do not have tap water. Is the CCP short of money, pipes, or technology? No, it has all these. The CCP’s officials only want to show off their achievements and increase GDP growth.”
He said, “The CCP exaggerates in this way every year. Everything heard in the news about drought and all the data are from the CCP. After every drought, the CCP claims that China had an abundant grain harvest. The propaganda machines always attempt to turn a disastrous policy into an accomplishment.”
Read the original Chinese article.
