China tells embassies to stop reporting pollution

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China's air quality is considered some of the worst in the world. [Reuters]

Last Updated: Tue, 5 Jun 2012 22:15:00 +1000

The Chinese Government has demanded foreign embassies stop publishing Beijing air pollution readings.

Deputy Environment Minister Wu Xiaoqing said the readings were illegal and violated diplomatic conventions.

"The monitoring and publishing of China's air quality are related to the public interests and as such are powers reserved for the government," he said.

Wu did not name the United States, but called on embassies to abide by China's laws, saying that publishing their own air quality data was "not in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations".

The US embassy air quality Twitter feed gained a major following in Beijing, and later in Shanghai when it was introduced at the US consulate there.

Beijing announced earlier this year it would change the way it measured air quality to include the smaller particles experts say make up much of the pollution in Chinese cities, after a vocal campaign.

China's air quality is among the worst in the world, international organisations say, citing massive coal consumption and car-choked city streets in the world's biggest auto market.

According to the latest Environmental Performance Index compiled by Yale University, China ranked 128th out of 132 countries for air quality.