China, Japan and Republic of Korea (ROK) have agreed to set up a shared sandstorm monitoring network to try to prevent the sandstorms that have run rampant in the East Asia region. The three countries reached a wide consensus on cooperation in sandstorm prevention during the Fourth Environmental Ministerial Meeting of China, Japan and ROK which concluded in Seoul, capital of ROK on April 21.

Kin Mingzi, a senior official of the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, said that top environmental officials of the three countries had made a detailed exchange concerning sandstorm prevention.

The problem concerns not only ecology but also the climate of Northeast Asia which China has been monitoring for ten years, said Xie Zhenhua, head of China's State Environmental Protection Administration. Xie said the results show storms that originate in Mongolia and Kazakhstan of Middle Asia then intensify in Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia of China revealing a complex situation of local climate and dust storms that develop before they hit China.

To help prevent and control sandstorms, the Chinese government has launched a major project of protecting natural forests as well as a project of converting farmland to forest. In addition, some areas are closed to maintain the natural state of forests, said Xie Zhenhua.

Minister of Environment of Japan Oki Hiroshi said that although Japan has been the least affected among the three countries of Northeast Asian, sandstorms still are a very big problem for all of Asia. He said the three countries need to conduct further monitoring on sandstorms and that Japan will send concerned experts to join related work in the future cooperation.

According to a joint communique issued by the meeting, environmental protection is the most important challenge faced by humanity in the 21st century. China, Japan and the ROK have pledged to make further improvements in the environment of three countries as well as the environment of Northeast Asian region by enhancing communication and cooperation in relevant fields and promoting the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol that aims to prevent global warming.

(中國新聞網 [China News Net], translated by Wang Qian for china.org.cn, April 30, 2002)