Zhang Wenbin, a well-known environmental protection advocate in China, was recently reportedly taken away by the police for investigation. On Wednesday (October 21), the WeChat public account "Green Waters and Green Mountains Research Team" posted an article saying that the news "caused quite a shock" in China's non-governmental environmental circles. According to the article, Zhang Wenbin was arrested in Urumqi, Xinjiang, by police from Wanzai County, Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, but the article did not specify the specific date.
The "Green Waters and Green Mountains Research Team" alleged that Zhang Wenbin's arrest may be related to his past investigation of lithium mine pollution in Wanzai County. This article is currently unavailable; the online media "China Digital Times" has the original text.
X platform blogger "Teacher Li is not your teacher" also posted a screenshot of a Weibo netizen's post, saying that he learned from Zhang Wenbin's family that in addition to Wanzai City, Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, police from Jinxi County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province may also be involved in the case; the police also said that Zhang Wenbin was suspected of "blackmail."
It is worth noting that "Teacher Li is not your teacher" talked about Zhang Wenbin's post and forwarded an official media report from August this year. According to the report, one of the priorities of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee in carrying out the "deepening of the special campaign against gangs and evil" is "public opinion blackmail and malicious claims."
What Chinese officials call "public opinion blackmail" usually refers to "criminal elements" pretending to be journalists and posting negative information on the Internet to threaten companies and force them to pay money. However, international studies have also pointed out that the Chinese government often uses non-political accusations such as "extortion" and "illegal business operations" to suppress dissidents, especially those with strong online influence.
It is currently unclear whether Zhang Wenbin was taken away for investigating the Wanzai pollution incident. As of noon on Friday (23rd), the Wanzai County Public Security Bureau has not released a police report related to Zhang Wenbin. It is unclear what crimes he is involved in. The non-governmental organization "China Human Rights Defenders Network" (CHRD) published a document on the X platform, demanding that the government publicly explain the legal basis for taking Zhang Wenbin away and his whereabouts, and protect his legal rights.
Zhang Wenbin once investigated pollution in the lithium mining industry
According to the aforementioned multiple sources, Zhang Wenbin is an environmental volunteer who has devoted himself to public welfare for many years and runs the WeChat public account of the "Zero Distance Pollution Task Force". An actual review of the content of this public account shows that the earliest post is from 2017. It mainly tracks industrial pollution issues, frequently visits the site to collect evidence, and writes investigative articles.
In the past few years, the "Zero Distance Pollution Task Force" public account has tracked down many environmental pollution incidents in Jiangxi, such as air pollution near Jinxi Industrial Park, sewage discharge problems in Jingdezhen Yuli Industrial Park, etc.
Articles directly related to Wanzai County can be traced back to January 2018. At that time, environmental protection volunteers conducted on-site sampling and inspection, and found that the COD (chemical oxygen demand) at the rainwater discharge outlet near the industrial park seriously exceeded the standard, which indicated that some companies may be illegally discharging industrial sewage. In addition, according to local residents, the Wanzai landfill also discharges leachate into Jinjiang all year round.
In May 2023, the "Zero Distance Pollution Task Force" further wrote an article exposing the lithium waste pollution controversy of specific companies in the Wanzai Industrial Park. Environmentalists found that at least two lithium slag storage warehouses in Jiangxi Nanshi Lithium Battery New Materials Co., Ltd. (Nanshi Lithium Industry) were obviously substandard, and believed that they may not have undergone environmental impact assessment.
The article reads: "Although there is a shed to cover it, the roof of the slag warehouse is in tatters and is not rainproof at all. After the rainwater washes away the lithium slag, there is no leachate collection system next to the slag warehouse... Pollutants are mixed with the leachate and flow directly to the outside environment."
Not long ago this article was published, a large-scale environmental pollution controversy broke out in Yichun, where Wanzai County is located.
At the end of 2022, thallium pollution was reported in Jinjiang, and in early 2023, a series of problems such as companies' random discharge of sewage and people's private mining of lithium mines broke out. The Chinese central government paid close attention to it and sent personnel to investigate, and the Jiangxi Provincial Government also announced strict rectification.
Yichun has rich lithium deposits and is an important lithium mining area in China. It is known as the "Lithium Capital of Asia". As the Chinese government has attached great importance to the "new energy" industry in recent years, the importance of lithium ore required for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries has increased, and Yichun's lithium ore industry has boomed. Many large companies have invested there. For example, a subsidiary of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. is mining lithium ore locally. Production was suspended last year due to the expiration of the license, and the environmental impact assessment approval process is currently underway.
