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China VP looks at greening of Japan's former 'iron city'
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 16, 2009 China's Vice President Xi Jinping wrapped up a three-day Japan visit Wednesday with a trip to a former heavy industry centre that has cut down on pollution and developed a cleaner robotics sector. Xi, who is expected to succeed Hu Jintao as president in 2012, visited the southwestern city of Kitakyushu before he travels to South Korea on a regional tour that will also take him to Cambodia and Myanmar. In a morning meeting, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told Xi that "Kitakyushu was once called 'the city of iron,' but it has overcome the problem of pollution and is a good model case." China, expected soon to overtake Japan as the world's number two economy, struggles with large-scale pollution from its heavy industry, coal plants and cars and is now the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. Kitakyushu Mayor Kenji Kitahashi briefed Xi on the city's environmental policies while Xi also visited Yaskawa Electric Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of industrial robots, city officials said. A city official told Xi that Kitakyushu saw its air and water heavily polluted during rapid industrialisation in the 1960s, when a nearby bay was called the "sea of death." Now the city has confirmed the return of more than 100 marine species once thought locally extinct and has cut down on waste by recycling items from plastic bottles to computers and cars, the official said. Xi told Kitahashi that "what Kitakyushu experienced, and its advanced measures, are useful references for us," another official said. The Kyushu trip in which Japan showcased its environmentally friendly technologies came at the end of Xi's three-day visit during which both sides stressed the desire to boost relations between the two Asian giants. But controversy erupted over a meeting between Xi and Emperor Akihito and the sensitive matter of palace protocol. The prime minister's office asked the Imperial Household Agency to skip a usual rule that requires such meetings to be requested a month in advance, leading conservative opposition politicians to accuse the centre-left government of bending the rules to kowtow to rising giant China. Ichiro Ozawa, a heavyweight in the ruling Democratic Party who reportedly pushed for the meeting with the emperor, has openly feuded with a palace official who complained about heavy government pressure. Tokyo police have since boosted security for Ozawa and Premier Yukio Hatoyama to prevent possible attacks by right-wing nationalists who have accused them of disloyalty and disrespect towards the emperor. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Smog sinks Hong Kong's famous skylineHong Kong (AFP) Dec 16, 2009 On top of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, groups of tourists find themselves staring down at an apocalyptic vision of a towering city shrouded in a menacing grey smog. The haze blurs one of the world's most famous skylines and veils the ships dotting the harbour, disappointing visitors who made the trip to the Peak for a glimpse of what can be a spectacular panorama. When a scene like this ... read more |
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