China bans Australian coal and lacks electricity, employees must climb 20 floors before going to work | TechNews

Australia has called for an investigation into the origin of the new corona pneumonia to upset Beijing, and China has resorted to aggressive measures against Australia, banning the import of many Australian products such as thermal coal. However, restrictions on coal imports have led to significant electricity shortages in China, with factories forced to close and employees have to climb 20 flights of stairs to work.

The Financial Times and the New York Times reported on the 21st that in recent weeks, at least four provinces and more than ten cities in China have issued power rationing orders. The Hunan provincial government announced this month that due to power shortages, half of the province’s streetlights will be closed at night. Not only that, there are more than a dozen high-rise buildings in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. Elevators stop supplying power and employees must climb 20 floors to the office. One staff member said: “It has never been so troublesome to go to work.” He complained about the blackout last week, which caused him to get stuck in the elevator for 40 minutes.

Yiwu, Zhejiang, has the title of “Small Commodity Capital of the World” and is an important city for product manufacturing. Yiwu not only turned off all street lights at night, but by the end of this year, the factory’s operating hours were also forced to cut 80%. Mike Li, the owner of the plastic flower factory, said: “The factory can only work two days a week and the streets are dark at night. This is not a normal life at all.” Yiwu store owner Zhang Shaobo said, “The whole city is in darkness. When I was leaving work the other day, I saw several car accidents, so I was only able to drive slower.”

Chinese officials are stiff, claiming that the lack of electricity is caused by abnormal cold and high energy demand and has nothing to do with Australian coal. But the power plant revealed that the suspension of Australian coal imports will affect power generation. China director Huadian said the Australian coal embargo is enough to change the industrial ecology. Australian coal is highly energy efficient. Many local power plants love to use it. Now they cannot find alternatives.

Official data shows that only 3% of China’s fuel coal came from Australia in 2019, but the director of the China Electricity Council revealed that Australia’s coal is of good quality and more advanced provinces can use more than 10 % of Australian fuel coal. . Although the lack of electricity affects people’s livelihoods, Beijing will not change course easily. Huadian executives said: “We do not believe that these issues allow the government to relax import restrictions, (after all) policy first.”

(This article is reprinted with permission from MoneyDJ News; source for first image: Unsplash)

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