An expert on Tuesday refuted a claim by Taiwan's environmental protection authorities that the smog arriving in Taiwan on Tuesday evening was blown in from Beijing by a cold front, saying the alleged causal relationship is far-fetched.
The Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) announced on its official website on Tuesday that pollutants were brought into Taiwan by the monsoon blowing in from the northeast, and the air quality in northern Taiwan was expected to drop to a poor level. The density of PM2.5 - airborne particles under 2.5 micrometers in size - may exceed 100 micrograms per cubic meter in the island's north.
Tsai Hung-te, director-general of the EPA's Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management, told Taiwan-based United Evening News on Tuesday that most of the pollutants came from Beijing and were brought south by the monsoon.
"It is far-fetched to deduce that the smog is coming from Beijing since air pollution is a global problem," Zhang Yuanxun, a professor of environmental sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times.
Although the airborne particles in Beijing's smog could have been blown to other places, they could also have settled, been oxidized, or been cleansed from the atmosphere by falling rain, given the long travelling distance and long period of time, Zhang explained.
Tsai added that smog will impact the air quality in northern and central Taiwan on Wednesday.
