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KLMNO THE WORLD An island’s dizzying, troubling growth As developers cash in on China’s ‘Hawaii of the East,’ residents and environmentalists voice alarm BY KEITH B. RICHBURG


wanning, china — One year ago, China’s ruling State Council laid out a plan to transform its southernmost province into an international tourism destina- tion, or the “Hawaii of the East,” as Hainan Island was dubbed. The result has been a 12-


month frenzy of construction — lavish resorts, seaside villas, spas and a helicopter landing pad, still being built, for well-heeled visitors with no time to waste. And then there are golf cours-


es—plenty of them. By one local estimate, as many as 300 golf courses are being planned for the tropical island, which is about the size of Belgium. Twenty-six are complete, and 70 are under construction. They include the Mission Hills resort, which will boast 10 courses and 162 holes, spread overmore than six square miles. “Nearly every city and county


is engaged in development of a golf course,” said Liu Futang, 63, a former chief of Hainan’s Forest Fire Prevention Bureau. “No golf course has actually earned mon- ey. Few of them have people coming to play.” The dizzying pace of construc-


tion has forced thousands of indigenous farmers off their land, driven property prices up tenfold and higher, and ledmany residents to ask howmuch devel- opment is toomuch. “Hainan is a real-life example


of that film ‘Avatar,’ ” said Liu, who moved here 22 years ago to work in the island province’s forestryministry. “Except in Ava- tar, they could organize together to fight back.” On Hainan, he said, “I don’t have much hope — nothing can stop this change.”


Exposed to nature’s fury Hainan residents and environ-


mentalists say the rapid develop- ment is damaging the island’s ecosystem, and they are con- cernedmostly about the destruc- tion of the coastal forests, which for centuries have served as a natural bulwark against ty- phoons, tsunamis and soil ero- sion. They are particularly wor- ried about the mangroves of Australian pine and rare indige- nous Vaticamangachapoi, which has been a protected resource since the Qing dynasty. “They never cut these trees


down because they protect the people from typhoons,” said ChenZuming, 63,who grewup in the coastal forests in Shimei village on Hainan’s east coast. Chen, a farmer fromthe indig-


enous ethnic Li minority, recalls how these mangrove forests also played a role in China’s recent history, providing a redoubt for guerrillas battling the Japanese occupation during World War II and later for China’s Communist forces fighting the Nationalists. Huge tracts of the mangroves have been chopped down to


make way for seaside hotels and apartments and the paved high- ways to connect them. Three thousand villagers, including Chen, have been told that they have to relocate to a town more than 18 miles away, giving up their homes, their farmland, even the burial grounds of their ancestors. As farmers and fisher- men, they worry that they won’t be able to make a living in the town. Chen becomes animated, and


visibly emotional, when talking about the trees he has been working to protect since 1970. “I grew up on this land, and my father, and my grandfather,” he said. “They are destroying the area and turning it into roads.” The Beijing office of the envi-


ronmental group Greenpeace has warned of an increase in natural calamities because of the destruction of the mangrove for- ests. Of Hainan’s 950 miles of coastline, Greenpeace forest campaigner Yi Lan said, more than 621 are being developed. “Development and conversion of forest to real estate projects


PHOTOS BY KEITH B. RICHBURG/THE WASHINGTON POST


In the year since China’s leaders declared an intent to turnHainan into a top international tourism destination, the island has been awash in development.


“They are destroying the area and turning it into roads,” said farmer Chen Zuming, 63, whose family has been living on this island for generations.


will damage the coastal forest and increase the region’s vulner- ability to natural disasters,” Yi said. “They are turning this is- land into a tourist destination for rich people and foreigners, not for local people. They are not benefiting fromit.”


Frenetic development The rich and famous have


started coming. In late October, Mission Hills, which has four of its 10 courses open, hosted a celebrity golf tournament featur- ing actors Matthew McCon- aughey, Catherine Zeta-Jones andHugh Grant teeing off along- side golfing greats such as Nick Faldo and Greg Norman. The development has come at


a price, islanders said. Floods fromheavy rains in earlyOctober destroyed thousands of acres of farmland, washed out roads and caused the temporary evacuation of more than 400,000 people across Hainan. Shimei residents said the destruction of the forests exacerbated the flooding. The same story is unfolding all


over the island. InHaikou, on the northern coast, Chen Rendong, 78, a former chief of Hainan’s forest protection stations, re- called how he helped plant man- grove trees on the coast in the


early 1990s. Now, the sandy area is largely barren of trees, and resorts have popped up. The coastal town of Sanya in


the south is rapidly emerging as a combination of Waikiki and Mi- ami Beach, perhaps with a dash of Las Vegas thrown in. A36-year-old hiker and nature


enthusiast, who requested that his name not be used, described his shock at going to an area in Sanya where he used to camp, the Yalong Bay mangrove nature reserve, and finding it trans- formed into a virtual construc- tion site, for a resort due to open next year. The hiker wrote about this on


an Internet discussion forum, under the name Tiger Sowing Through the Forest, and attract- ed hundreds of supportive com- ments. “Foreign countries protect na-


ture to attract tourists, but the Chinese government has a differ- ent idea,” he said, staring out over the white sandy beaches at construction cranes. “Now if we want to go camping in Hainan, we’ll have to pitch a tent on the roof of our apartments.” richburgk@washpost.com


Staff researcher Wang Juan contributed to this report.


DIGEST EGYPT


8 Americans killed in crash of tour bus A tour bus slammed into a


truck in southern Egypt on Sun- day, killing eight Americans and injuring 21 others, the state news agency said. The bus was taking a tour


group on the 115-mile journey from Aswan to the ancient tem- ples of Abu Simbel along Lake Nasserwhenit raninto the truck, which was carrying sand, parked on the side of a single-lane desert road. Six women and two men were


killed in the crash. The Egyptian driver and a guide were injured. Security officials said the hurt


Americans were first transferred to a military hospital for treat- ment, and then 10 of the injured, including two Egyptians, were airlifted to a hospital in Cairo. An official ofMisr Sinai Tours,


which was running the bus ser- vice, said the accident occurred in earlymorning darkness about 13miles outside of Aswan. — Associated Press


CHINA


Premier reassures Chinese on inflation Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao


tried Sunday to reassure the public about the government’s ability to control inflation, a day after China raised interest rates amid worries that rising prices


could hurt social stability. Wen’s remarks underscore the


government’s concerns about an- ger over inflation — a sensitive topic in a society where poor families spend up to half their incomes on food. Rising incomes have helped


offset price hikes, but inflation undercuts economic gains that help support the ruling Commu- nist Party’s claimto power. Wen expressed confidence in the government’s ability to con-


trol price increases, pointing to large grain reserves as well as moves to support production by reducing and waiving taxes. He alsomentioned the govern-


ment’s twice raising interest rates and hiking the banks’ re- serve requirement ratio—mean- ing they have to hold more deposit funds in reserve rather than lending them out — six times this year to curb lending. Wen also pledged to focus more efforts on easing home


faced riots, a severe economic downturn and impeachment, has died in Miami, his family said Saturday. The 88-year-old Perez’s daugh-


ter,Maria Francia Perez, said her father had died in a Miami hospital after suffering a heart attack. In the final years of his life,


Perez came to personify the old guard Venezuelan political es- tablishment bitterly opposed by the current president, Hugo Chavez. Perez survived two coup at-


tempts in 1992, the first of which was led by Chavez, who was then a young army lieutenant colonel. In his first term, hewon praise


ASSOCIATED PRESS


Onlookers observe the tour bus that crashed into a truck on the 115-mile journey fromAswan to the ancient temples of Abu Simbel in Egypt. Eight American tourists were killed and 21 others were injured.


prices, acknowledging that mea- sures taken this year had not been well implemented. — Associated Press


VENEZUELA


Former president Perez dies in Miami Former president Carlos An-


dres Perez, whose popularity soared with Venezuela’s oil- based economy but who later


by nationalizing Venezuela’s oil industry, paying off foreign oil companies and then capitalizing on a period of prosperity that allowed his government to build subway lines, bankroll new so- cial programs and set up state- run companies in areas from steel to electricity. But his popularity plunged


after his election to a second term, when he tried to push through an economic austerity program including increasing the subsidized prices of gasoline, and anger among the poor boiled over in riots. In recent years, Perez lived in


Miamiwhile the Venezuelan gov- ernment demanded that he be turned over to stand trial for his role in putting down the bloody 1989 riots. Perez — who governed Vene- zuela from1974 to 1979 and again


from 1989 to 1993 — denied wrongdoing.


— Associated Press


Peace is ‘impossible,’ Israeli for- eign minister says: Israel’s for- eign minister said Sunday that a peace deal with the Palestinians is impossible under current con- ditions and that Israel should pursue a lesser deal instead — a concept the Palestinians swiftly rejected. The latest diplomatic spat between the two sides came as violence along the Israel-Gaza border simmered. After days of accelerated Palestinian rocket at- tacks on southern Israel and Israeli airstrikes in response, Is- raeli soldiers killed two Palestin- ians on the border early Sunday. Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, told a confer- ence of Israeli diplomats that instead of a full peace deal, Israel should seek a long-term interim agreement on security and eco- nomicmatters. Palestinians have consistently rejected that ap- proach.


Protests after Bolivia raises gas prices 73%: Bolivia’s govern- ment is abruptly raising gasoline prices by 73 percent, ending a six-year span in which they were frozen. Drivers today are paying about $3.48 a gallon for regular gas, up from$1.89. Protests have erupted, with bus drivers saying they will start an indefinite strike at midnight. And teachers say they will start street demon- strations.


— Fromnews services


Mexican request forU.S. help in drugwar detailed


Leaked cables also indicate Panamanian leader sought wiretaps


BY WILLIAM BOOTH


mexico city — The leader of the Mexican military told U.S. authorities last year that the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel moves among 10 to 15 known locations but that capturing Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was “difficult” because the most wanted man in Mexico sur- rounds himself with hundreds of armed men and a sophisticated web of snitches, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. Mexico’s defense secretary,


Gen. Guillermo Galvan, told Adm. Dennis C. Blair, then the Obama administration’s director of national intelligence, that the Mexican army was implement- ing plans to capture Guzman but that “Chapo commands the sup- port of a large network of in- formers and has security circles of up to 300 men that make launching capture operations difficult,” according to a report sent by U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual on Oct 26, 2009, and released by WikiLeaks to news organizations. Guzman is the boss ofMexico’s


dominant trafficking organiza- tion and an almost legendary drug lord here — the subject of books and songs, a billionaire mastermind who escaped froma Mexican federal prison, report- edly in a laundry basket. In his meeting with his U.S.


counterparts, Galvan com- plained that it was difficult to mount joint operations with Mexican police because “leaks of planning and information by corrupted officials have compro- mised past efforts.” Galvan told the American in-


telligence officials that his forces were “willing to accept any train- ing” the U.S. government could provide. The Mexican government has


repeatedly denied that Mexican military forces are receiving training from U.S. armed forces, but diplomatic cables leaked ear- lier this year appear to confirm that Mexican marines have been receiving special operations training from their U.S. counter- parts and that Mexican army troops were seeking the same. Galvan told U.S. officials that


he expected theMexicanmilitary to continue its controversial leadership role in the fight against the cartels for the next seven to 10 years. He suggested that “increased U.S. intelligence assistance could shorten that time frame.”


In response to the leaked ca-


bles, first reported by the New York Times, theMexicanmilitary and federal police said they were pursuing Guzman and his Si- naloa cartelwith the same zeal as any ofMexico’s othermajor drug organizations. Intelligence from the U.S.


Drug Enforcement Administra- tion that was shared with Mexi- can marines has resulted in a series of “capture or kill” opera- tions against high-value targets in theMexican drug world. Another leaked cable indi-


cates that Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli was pressur- ing theDEA to use itswiretaps in Panama against Martinelli’s po- litical opponents. “He clearly made no distinc-


tion between legitimate security targets and political enemies,”


“We will not be party to any effort to expand wiretaps to domestic political targets.”


—Barbara Stephenson, then U.S. ambassador to Panama


then-U.S. Ambassador Barbara Stephensonwrote in her Aug. 22, 2009, report. Stephenson, in her cable, stat-


ed thatMartinelli first asked her in a BlackBerrymessage: “I need help tapping phones.” The am- bassador wrote of Martinelli’s “bullying style” and “autocratic tendencies.” His “near-obsession with wiretaps betrays a simplis- tic and naive attitude toward the criminal investigative process,” Stephenson wrote. “He appears to believe that wiretaps are the solution to all of his crime prob- lems.” In her cable, the U.S. ambassa-


dor stressed that Martinelli’s re- quests were rebuffed. “We will not be party to any effort to expand wiretaps to domestic po- litical targets.” But the cable highlights the extent of U.S. listening in Panama, complete with a “wire room” staffed by DEA agents. Martinelli’s office said in a


statement Saturday that “help in tapping the telephones of politi- cians was never requested” and that “any such interpretation of that request is completely mis- taken.”


boothb@washpost.com


MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010


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