The Bank's Duty - washingtonpost.com

The Bank's Duty - washingtonpost.com:

"The Chinese State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) demanded that the World Bank expunge the pollution-death estimates from a report jointly prepared by SEPA and World Bank analysts, which was presented in preliminary form at a conference in March in Beijing. Chinese officials told the bank that the numbers were too sensitive and might contribute to growing unrest over environmental scandals. Last week, after the Financial Times broke the story, a government official explained that, since the final report has not been released, 'the issue that China has requested the World Bank to delete related data does not exist.'"

Comment: This editorial deals with a difficult issue. On the one hand, governments are unlikely to share data with international organizations and accept their assistance if they fear being embarrassed by publication of the data and results of analyses. On the other hand, the funding of the World Bank is multinational, and the impact of China on the environment will also have global implications; there is global benefit in sharing knowledge of the pollution that Chinese industry is creating and the impacts of that pollution. To what degree should the World Bank, a proponent of openness, accommodate China, one of the most secretive of governments? JAD