Does China’s bite into unsafe mining have teeth?

After years of ineffectualness the Chinese government appears to be getting tough about coal-mining safety.

On Thursday, Jan. 5, China’s official news agency reported the government will close 5,290 mines — although the announcement lacks any specifics on how closures will be enforced.

Roughly 5,000 miners are killed annually in small mines that have blossomed as both the demand and price of coal increases. Many worry the central government lacks the ability to stop such mines from re-opening once closed.

In the past 13 months, six mine accidents killed 528 people in the country.

The worst disaster occurred in February of 2005, when 214 miners were killed at the Sunjiawan mine — the country’s deadliest accident in 50 years.

John Foarde, staff director at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) a commission sanctioned by the U.S. congress to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China says the announcement is part of the Chinese government’s slow movement towards better practices.

Foarde says increased internal pressure from Chinese citizens in part buoyed by, an at times, bolder Chinese press is shaming the government to take more drastic measures.

“There’s a lot of popular disgust with the corruption and the environmental degradation,” Foarde says from CECC offices in Washington. “Chinese leadership likes to see itself as leading a modern country(the mining accidents) makes them look bad and they don’t like it.”

But Foarde is wary of the central government’s ability to implement even popular policies, as often officials at the local level are corrupted.

“The central government tries to implement things down to the local level but China is a big amorphus place,” Foarde says. “The further you get from the capital, the harder it is to get the implementation of something.”

The announced closures come on the heels of mine inspections carried out in 2005. The inspections were part of the government’s attempt to cut down on the number of mining accidents that have made china’s coal mining industry one of the deadliest in the world.

Despite the stepped up inspections the number of people dying in mines has remained largely unchanged.

Another 12,000 of the country’s estimated 34,000 coal mines are set for inspection as part of the crackdown. Of that number 24,000 are small mines producing 10,000 to 30,000 tonnes of coal a year.

Foarde says state-run mines do have better safety standards than smaller, often illegal mines.

He believes increased international awareness, coupled with greater freedom of the press within China, are the best ways to ensure dangerous mines remain shut.

For now, Foarde is cautiously optimistic about the government’s announcement.

“In a lumbering sort of way the system is moving in the right direction,” he says. “But not as fast as anyone would like to see.”