As opposition grows, China defends plans for petrochemical plants

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As opposition grows, China defends plans for petrochemical plants

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/opposition-grows-china-defends-plans-petrochemical-plants-075332401--sector.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4HB1dJJVQk74pf66i7WXGg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-04-18T074503Z_1_CBREA3H0LJB00_RTROPTP_2_CNEWS-US-CHINA-PETROCHEMICALS-CAMPAIGN.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="File photo of a man and a girl on his shoulders at a protest against a chemical plant project, near the city government building in Maoming" align="left" title="File photo of a man and a girl on his shoulders at a protest against a chemical plant project, near the city government building in Maoming" border="0" /></a>By Chen Aizhu BEIJING (Reuters) - China has launched an intense media campaign to defend the safety of producing a chemical used to make polyester fiber, as public opposition to new petrochemical plants threatens to disrupt expansion plans by state energy giants such as Sinopec Corp. Choking smog and environmental degradation in many parts of China is angering an increasingly educated and affluent urban class and after a series of health scares and accidents there is deepening public skepticism of the safety of industries ranging from food to energy. Illustrating this distrust, hundreds of residents in the southern Chinese city of Maoming demonstrated this month against plans to build a petrochemical plant to produce paraxylene, known as PX, a chemical used in making polyester fiber and plastics. The plant is backed by the local government and China's biggest refiner, state-controlled Sinopec Corp. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of PX and polyester, vital for the country's textile industry, which generated $290 billion of overseas sales, or 13 percent of China's total exports last year, according to customs data.</p><br clear="all"/>

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