Chinese Coal Mine Owners Threaten "Drastic Action" to Stop Demolition
Posted on: Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 12:00 CDT
Text of report by Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post website on 6 September
Guangdong mine owners are threatening to take drastic action to stop authorities from destroying their operations.
Their defiance came after Guangdong officials said on Sunday [4 September] that all poorly run coal mines would be closed and blown up shortly after.
The announcement followed an accident last month at the Daxing Colliery in Meizhou which killed at least 123 miners.
An ensuing investigation by authorities uncovered serious and widespread collusion between local officials and mine owners.
Zhang Mingxing, a mine owner in Meizhou, said all operators were upset by the decision.
"All of us are very angry, while some are planning to take direct action," said Mr Zhang, who claimed to speak for as many as 200 owners.
Mr Zhang said mine owners were deeply in debt and it would be unfair if the government closed down their operations without compensating them. The government has not said whether it would offer compensation.
"We would rather die together as they blow up our pits."
It is understood many mine owners have stores of explosives, which authorities would have difficulty forcing them to hand over.
In Meizhou, officials yesterday started to take steps to blow up more than 62 mines that were not fully licensed.
Mine owners in Lianzhou, Meizhou, Qingyuan and Shaoguan yesterday said the closure order meant more than 100,000 lost jobs for miners.
Qingyuan mine owner Chen Jizhang rejected official claims that the order was supported by the public.
"If you were robbed by someone, would you say to them, 'Well done?'"
A spokesman for the provincial coal mine safety department yesterday said the safety record in Guangdong was very poor and that the government had to use "iron fists" in order to clear up all the unlicensed sites.
"We are making mine safety a top priority. Unless we take a tough approach we will not succeed," he said.
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
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