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There is now a lot of international concern about safety standards at mainland Chinese bio-safety laboratories doing research on dangerous pathogens. When discussing this issue we need to be mindful of the problem of corruption and under-regulated industries in mainland China 1/8
One of the key problems in mainland China is that the Chinese party-state is not a regulatory state, but a developmental state which prioritises profits over people's health. This means that despite existing laws and regulations, industry supervision is often extremely lax 2/8
Just look at the Chinese Communist Party's poor track record of regulating the country's chemical industry. What follows are examples of four major industrial disasters in mainland China during the past five years 3/8
Tianjin, 2015. A warehouse owned by a company specialising in handling hazardous goods caught fire and exploded 4/8
Fujian, 2015. PX plant explodes 5/8 https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/apr/06/chemical-factory-explosion-in-china-video-zhangzhou-paraxylene
Jiangsu, Tianjiayi, 2019. Chemical plant explosion 6/8
Jiangsu, Lianyungang, 2020. Chemical plant explosion 7/8
And if the poor safety record of mainland China's chemical industry doesn't worry you, perhaps you should listen to He Zuoxiu, a leading Chinese physicist. He warned in 2015 that the country is not investing enough in nuclear reactor safety controls 8/8 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/china-nuclear-power-plants-expansion-he-zuoxiu
