Green activists spend 100,000 yuan on NY Times ad aimed at Xi's environmental policy
Mainland pair use New York Times to call on new leaders to fight pollution and warming
Two grass-roots environmental activists have run an advertisement in The New York Times calling on China's new leaders, including Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, to honour Beijing's commitments on tackling pollution and fighting global climate change.
Titled "Congratulations to the new generation of China's leaders," the quarter-page advertisement was published on page A24 of the newspaper's national section last week.
"We hope the promise is kept to protect the environment," the advertisement said, in English and Chinese.
Veteran environmentalist Wu Lihong, from Wuxi, Jiangsu, and another peasant activist, Chen Faqing, from Zhejiang, jointly paid more than 100,000 yuan (HK$123,000) to place the advertisement.
"If we, two peasants, are willing to pay to promote environmental justice and awareness, why can't our top leaders, especially the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, do something meaningful to help reduce pollution?" Wu asked.
Wu, once a national hero for blowing the whistle on polluters who defiled Lake Tai in Jiangsu province, was jailed for three years on extortion charges in Wuxi in August 2007. He was widely seen as a victim of political persecution initiated by provincial and Wuxi authorities, who were embarrassed by Wu's vigorous one-man campaign against industrial pollution.