DALIAN - Public protests in northern China that forced the closure of a chemical plant, which supplies petrochemicals used to create raw materials for polyester textiles, is a sign that China is finding it difficult to balance rapid economic development with a growing public awareness of environmental issues.

Fears of a toxic spillage caused tens of thousands of Chinese residents in Dalian, Northern China to publicly protest and ultimately force the closure of the Fujia Dahua chemical plant, which makes 700,000 mt/year of paraxylene – a precursor chemical for polyester production.

The protest against the sea-side facility gathered pace last week after a monsoon broke the dyke surrounding the plant and caused flooding which raised fears of a toxic spill and alarmed local residents.

Paraxylene is widely used in the production of polyester and plastics, and can damage vital organs after long-term exposure. It is also known as a carcinogen.
These protests signal the developing awareness of ecological issues in China.

Around 12,000 residents took part in a march against the factory, which unusually was tolerated by the local authorities who normally suppress open dissent. Remarkably, as a result, the Chinese authorities have called for the plant to be closed and relocated imminently.

Despite the plant being just two years old, Fuija will now be shut down and it’s widely thought that this reaction to the protests is indicative of a growing concern about environmental issues in China by the general public and the government itself. Similar nearby protests are not usually tolerated, but in a country where economic growth and ecology come into near constant conflict, the government seems to becoming keener to promote and act upon environmental concerns.

Reuters said that environmental pollution is one of the major causes of social unrest in China, which had almost 90,000 such ‘mass incidents’ of riots, protests, mass petitions and other acts of unrest in 2009, according to a 2011 study by two scholars from Nankai University in north China.