China: Kunshan Requests 270 Enterprises to Suspend Production

To ensure river water quality meets China's national annual assessment requirements, Kunshan in Jiangsu province is forcing 270 enterprises in the city to suspend production from 25 December 2017 to 10 January 2018.

Recently, pollution monitoring data generated from Kunshan rivers showed poor water quality that would fail national and provincial standards. In order to improve and stabilize the water quality, Kunshan has called a halt to production activities in numerous sectors. After the 15-day suspension period, authorities will consider whether to extend the suspension based on the water quality. However, as it involves a large number of enterprises, the notification has not been implemented yet. Zhou, the deputy director of Kunshan EPA, further explains that the suspension does not mean a full shutdown; rather, it is about reducing production procedures which generate waste water. The list contains a number of well-known optoelectronics enterprises, such as Foxconn, Visionox, Eleceltek, etc. Nearly half the enterprises on that list are from Taiwan.     

Jiangsu prioritizes water pollution and pollutant emission control. Since 9 December 2016, Jiangsu has been implementing its own environmental protection project (called project 263) involving ecological protection and environmental governance. This production suspension is based on a findings derived from project 263.