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Comment by Analemma_ | Hacker News Reader

The central government in Beijing takes pollution pretty seriously, it's usually an issue of corruption at the level of local officials. Once an environmental issue is loud enough to convince Beijing to turn its gaze there, they can usually be counted on to make it go away, by good means or bad.

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But does this type of pollution have any localized effect? It might be years before the ozone hole grows large enough to directly affect the country.

If the effect of this pollution is that China's competitors have to spend more energy and resources combatting the ozone hole then it's a competitive advantage with the only downside being loss of international reputation.

Point is, the pollution China's been cracking down on is the type that hurts the country economically (whether through immediate health issues or making it less desirable to live). Will be interesting to see how they respond.

While this report may be the first smoking gun, there have been very, very strong implications of cheating in China on CFCs for years. If they wanted to rein it in, they could have done it long ago.

isn't it all because there's no election in China?

without elections, why would a gov. official listen to "the people"?

To remain in power? That's why they have propaganda. All governments listen to their people, by necessity. The quality and quantity of this listening varies, but all do.

agreed. But China's "quality and quantity" effectively is "as long as there isn't a bloody riot all over the place" :(

and speaking of dissidents, why would Chinese police operate "execution vans"? isn't that to hide execution of key people, whose news of execution may stir the public?

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