The article in China Comment Biweekly, titled "Behind the Sandstorms," discusses the causes and effects of April's powerful sandy winds that hit Beijing.

Deserts in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, along with lingering drought conditions, are mainly causing this weather, the article says. Sandstorms have been exacerbated by the drought, it says.

Deserts have increased the number of sandstorms, according to the article. In the 1990s, China has experienced more than 20 sandstorms a year, up from eight in the 1960s.

In recent years, sandstorms have caused direct financial losses of 54 billion yuan (US$6.5 billion) annually, which is three times the revenue of five northwestern provinces and ethnic autonomous regions in 1996.

A place called the "heavenly desert" is 70 kilometres from Beijing, and recent sandstorms have pushed it one metre closer to the Chinese capital, according to the article.

Reiterating previous statements by the Chinese Government, the article quotes an official saying more vegetation can solve the problem. Liu Tuo, a desert-control expert from the State Forestry Administration, said a desert-control project to protect and plant trees and grass would best control sandstorms.

He urged that desert vegetation be protected through the planting of trees and grass, which would create natural walls against the desert's advance. And more should be done to increase the area occupied by desert oases, Liu said in the magazine article.

Local governments in Beijing, Hebei Province and Inner Mongolia are planning to form a green belt around the capital.

China's environment can improve in 10 years if progress is made in policies, laws, science and technology as well as people's ideas about deserts, said Li Yucai, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, in the magazine article.

(Xinhua)