Heilongjiang governor Zhang Zuoji

media - Lies in good intend, the governor

Now a spillage of 100 ton of benzene has passed Harbin and is on its way to the Russian border, tough questions are being asked about the initial cover-up of the disaster.
Bingfeng Teahouse translates some of the explanations given by the governor of the province, Heilongjiang, Zhang Zuoji.

...we were worried that the public can not take the sudden disaster; and we needed to consider the foreign relations, worried that (the disaster) might influence the relationship between china and foreign nations. with the support of the central government, we corrected this "lie of good intention" in less than 10 hours, and announced the whole truth to the public and got their understandings. after this incident, we know that we must safeguard the public's right to know and participate when sudden disaster happens".

Of course: there are too many of those lies with good intentions, but that will not stop this time many more questions te be asked. The Financial Times puts it in perspective: getting timely information is not only a problem for the public, but even for the central government. Even though the Ministry of State Secrets has decided that casualities of (natural) disasters are no longer a state-secret in September, simple decisions in Beijing might not change an traditional attitude that fast.
Zhang Zuoji is apart from governor of Heilongjiang Province, Member of the 16th CPC Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee.
ESWN has been documenting the water crisis in Heilongjiang most thorough.