Whats the status of the Three Gorges Dam?
The Three Gorges is a political project, not an engineering project. What the government has announced [electricity, power generation, etc.] is an excuse. All these people [who supported the project, including former Premier], Deng Xiaoping, they used to be engineers. [Current Premier] Zhu Rongji is not an engineer. He understands the economy. He knows how difficult it is. Zhu Rongji doesn’t like this project, but he has to find a way to change what is going on. So he has invited these foreign engineers. What he said about taking responsibility for the project is very important. It has to be international quality. This gives us a chance — maybe the international inspectors can speak to the Chinese scientists. It’s an opportunity. Zhu is very clever. Currently, we are getting in touch with scientists at MIT and other institutions in the U.S. to get their scientists to accept the invitation. Q: What was your role in fostering the debate about the Three Gorges? A: Three years ago I wrote
