Sensationalizing of experts' opinions counterproductive

WANG XINHAI, a scholar with Peking University, said at a development-themed forum that encouraging residents in North China to migrate to the water-rich southern regions could quench the thirst for natural resources in the north of the country, which has provoked a debate. Daily Sunshine newspaper in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, questions the recent media hype based on Wang's controversial opinion, suggesting that scholars think twice before they make such comments:

Admitting that many areas in northern China are burdened by mounting environmental pressures, the Peking University researcher is at least being sincere in the face of multiple challenges.

But his migration proposal has failed to fully consider the difficulties embedded in such a massive relocation of people. For example, how many people from the north of the country would be moved to the south, where to accommodate them, how to defuse the social shock of such a large influx of people on the local residents, and what to do to those who refuse to leave their homes, are all issues that would have to be considered.