中國僅三個城市空氣質量達標
An archipelago known for its Buddhist temples, the Tibetan capital and a seaside city known for corrupt real estate deals, are the only three cities in China to meet national air quality standards, in a stark illustration of how pervasive pollution has become in the world’s most populous country.
中國只有三個城市達到國家空氣質量標準，一個是以佛教寺廟出名的羣島城市舟山，一個是西藏省會拉薩，還有一個是以房地產腐敗窩案聞名的濱海城市海口，凸顯了世界人口第一大國污染現象有多普遍。Unrelenting smog – including a week-long stretch last month of “hazardous” air in Beijing – has become a focus for public discontent, particularly in prosperous urban areas. Last week, Li Keqiang, China’s premier, told the annual meeting of the country’s legislature that his government would wage “war on pollution”.
瀰漫不散的霧霾已成了引發羣衆不滿的一大問題，尤其是在城市居民中間。上個月，北京曾連續一週被籠罩在“有害”霧霾之下。中國總理李克強上週在人大會議上表示，中國政府將“向污染宣戰”。Haikou, the capital of sub-tropical Hainan Island, Zhoushan – an archipelago just south of Shanghai that consists of 1,390 islands and 1.1 million people – and Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, were the only three to meet national standards in a survey of 74 of the nation’s largest cities, vice-minister of environmental protection Wu Shaoqing told journalists at the wekend.
環境保護部副部長吳曉青在週末的記者會上說，去年全國實施新空氣質量標準的74個城市中，僅有拉薩、海口、舟山三個城市完全達標。拉薩是西藏省會，海口是海南島省會，處於亞熱帶地區，舟山在上海以南，由1390座島嶼組成，有110萬人口。
Of the 10 worst cities, seven were in Hebei, the industrial province that rings Beijing where winter pollution levels regularly go off the scale.
而在空氣質量相對較差的前10個城市中，有7個在河北省，河北是將北京環抱在內的工業大省，冬季污染指數頻頻爆表。Last year, China issued a plan to cut emissions and polluting steel capacity in the populous east – particularly in Hebei – while encouraging more coal and industrial development in the poor and arid west of the country.
去年中國公佈了一項計劃，決定在人口密集的東部地區（尤其是河北）減少污染物排放，壓減鋼鐵產能，同時鼓勵煤礦和工業向西部貧瘠落後地區發展。Hebei officials have hastened to demonstrate their commitment by inviting state television to film the detonation of steel mills and cement plants. But steel industry officials say most of these blown up were already closed due to high debt levels and poor profitability, throwing doubt over any long-term impact on pollution levels.
河北省官員爲表明決心，匆忙邀請國家電視臺拍攝了他們引爆鋼廠和水泥廠的場景。但據鋼鐵業官員表示，多數被爆破的工廠早已由於債務沉重、效益差而倒閉，令人質疑這種舉動對降低污染水平是否有長遠作用。Sixteen of Hebei’s 148 steel plants have closed for economic reasons, provincial governor Zhang Qingwei said on Friday, allowing Hebei to meet its closure targets sooner than required. Mr Li said in his address to the legislature that the national target of shuttering 60m tonnes of steel capacity by 2017 would be met one year earlier than originally planned.
河北省省長張慶偉在上週五表示，河北省有148座鋼廠，其中16座已因經濟原因關閉，河北省能夠提早達到關停目標。到2017年，河北將壓減6000萬噸鋼鐵產能。李克強在人大會議作政府工作報告時表示，將確保提前一年完成淘汰落後產能的任務。The central government has attempted for many years to regulate pollution and industrial overcapacity by mandating shutdowns, an approach that tends to backfire as industrial bosses frantically expand to create plants too big to fail.
中央政府多年來試圖通過行政命令，強制企業關停工廠，以控制污染和工業產能過剩問題，但結果往往適得其反，企業主們爲防止工廠因規模小被關閉，瘋狂地擴建工廠。An environmental tax could be considered at the annual session of the legislature, under way this week. Changes to China’s 1989 environmental protection law are undergoing a third round of revisions, Mr Wu said: “We believe the biggest part to be revised is how to fix the problem that the cost of polluting is low while the cost of mitigating it is high.”
本週人大會議可能考慮立法開徵環境稅。中國正在對1989年環境保護法進行第三輪修改，吳曉青說：“這次修改的亮點，就是解決違法成本低、守法成本高問題。”For many Chinese cities, part of the problem is that local polluters are often the biggest taxpayers and employers, or have tight ties to local governments. Most of the 10 best cities cited by Mr Wu are on the coast, where sea breezes clear the air.
中國許多城市面臨的一個問題是，污染排放企業通常是當地納稅和就業大戶，或是與地方政府有緊密聯繫的企業。吳曉青所說的10個空氣質量相對較好的城市大多在沿海地區，海風能淨化空氣。
