China Moving Carefully on Mt. Baekdu

It was reported that the Chinese government didn’t seek a plan to pursue the independent registration of Mt. Baekdu (called Mt. Changbai in China) as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site because it is worried over possible conflicts with North Korea.

Spurred by a recent report of Dong-A Ilbo on China’s initiative for independent registration, high ranking officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade asked to talk with related officials of the Chinese government yesterday, which confirmed that it was not really what is going on now.

In regard to a report that Chinese government attempts to place Mt. Baekdu in tentative list of World Heritage sites by next February to pave a way for independent official registration in February 2008, government officials said, “Officials from the Chinese government said that this is not a plan of the Chinese government, which is just a project prepared by local communities (Jirin local government and Committee for Protection and Development of Mt. Baekdu).”

The Chinese officials clarified the position of the Chinese government on this issue by saying, “Mt. Changbai is located between China and North Korea. How could we think of independent registration? We haven’t thought of such plan.”

The government officials also added, “Mt. Changbai is not on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites now. This is a unilateral plan of China’s local groups.”

The Chinese officials stressed again that the project for the independent registration of Mt. Baekdu as a World Heritage Site is not a plan of the Chinese government and added, “If we seek the registration, we will definitely have a talk with North Korea in advance.”

“In fact, the local communities provoked such noise by spreading uncertain information and kept insisting that the development of Mt. Baekdu will bring economic benefits to the underdeveloped region around Mt. Baekdu,” said the Chinese government officials. This also shows the uneasy position of the Chinese government on this matter.

The Jirin local government and Committee for Protection and Development of Mt. Baekdu have been seeking the registration of Mt. Baekdu as a World Natural Heritage Site. They aim to attract more than one million tourists to Mt. Baekdu by 2008, seeing the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as a good chance to advertise this area.

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