(Adds details of environmental assessment)

By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Chinese city of Xiamen has sought public comment on the future of a planned chemical plant in a rare invitation that comes months after mass demonstrations against the project.

China has been struggling to control environmental pollution, a consequence of decades of unchecked economic growth, not only to curb degradation and reduce resource waste, but also because pollution has become a trigger for social unrest.

An environmental assessment of plans to build the plant to make paraxylene, a petrochemical used in polyester and fabrics, was complete and the public has 10 days to submit opinions, the city government said on its Web site (http://www.xm.gov.cn).

The local government and the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, which conducted the assessment, would "go through all channels to broadly listen to citizens opinions and suggestions about the environmental assessment report", the Xiamen Evening News reported.

Notices on the Xiamen Web site also advised citizens to go online or to a local library to learn more about the assessment.

In June, protesters, who numbered 20,000 at their peak, had demanded the government in Xiamen scrap, not just put off, its plans for the plant, saying it threatened the city's environment and residents' health.

"We will treat the opinions and suggestions collected through public participation in an objective, fair and comprehensive way," Xinhua news agency quoted Li Yanwu, of the research academy, as telling a news conference in Xiamen, a prosperous, southeastern coastal city.

"As to whether a suggestion is accepted or not, we will give explanations ...," he said.

The June protests, news of which spread by mobile phone text message, prompted environmental officials in Beijing to admonish the local government for not taking seriously the importance of assessments, saying such attitudes could cause "chaos".

The environmental assessment report criticised the local government for setting two conflicting targets for Haicang, the Xiamen district where the plant was to be located, saying the area could not create both an industrial zone focused on the chemical industry and a residential area.

But it did not take a stand on which development path would be better.

Since polluting factories had already been built in the area, "to enthusiastically promote property development is obviously inappropriate", said the report, an abridged version of which was published in Xiamen newspapers on Thursday.

On the other hand, the report said, "the dispersion of pollution particles in the air is restricted by many unfavourable factors", which would argue against building more factories.

If city planners chose to go ahead with the industrial zone, they must demolish homes and relocate schools and citizens. Stricter environmental protection standards should also be drafted for existing factories, the report said. (Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)

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