China tells meteorological bureaus to stop smog alerts

BEIJING: China is suspending local meteorological bureaus from issuing smog alerts, media reported yesterday, raising suspicions the government is attempting to suppress information about the country’s air pollution as public anger over the issue grows.

China’s Meteorological Administration notified local bureaus on Tuesday to “immediately stop issuing smog alerts”, according to a photo of a notice posted on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo.

Instead, the local departments can issue alerts for “fog” when visibility is less than 10km, according to the notice.

The notice was issued because local “meteorological bureaus and the environmental protection administration often disagree when they issue smogrelated information”, a representative from the China Meteorological Administration told the Chinese website The Paper.

“A joint alerting mechanism will be formulated to consult how to and who should issue alerts for smog,” the representative said.

One single department will now be responsible for issuing smog alerts, The Paper reported.

The reports met with stinging criticism from online commentators who have long doubted the credibility of official data on air pollution.

“Before, they cheated us separately, and now, they are going to cheat us together,” one person said on Weibo.

“Even though they are working on a unified alert standard, they should not stop the existing alert system,” another replied. – AFP