China is addicted to growth
August 29, 2007 by Eugene
Filed under Asia, Government and Policies, People and Lifestyle, Water, Air and Land
The New York Times has published a special series, Choking on Growth, to examine China’s environment and the challenges it faces as it grows economically. The series include articles, audio slide shows, videos and graphic maps. In the article, As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes, Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley pointed out that China’s environmental problems are causing health and political problems. The problems arise out of the drive for increasing economic growth. Although they acknowledged that developed countries go through an initial phase of environmental degradation before starting to clean up their act, China’s environmental degradation is happening at an unprecedented rate such that it poses great challenges to the government and the public.
Chinese leaders Hu Jingtao and Wen Jiabao appear to be concerned about the environment and have made attempts to address the issues, but their efforts seem to have fallen on the deaf ears of the provincial officials who are more concerned about the economic growth of their own areas. Chinese leaders have also been criticised of being too slow in tackling environmental problems and energy needs.
Can China’s addiction to growth be overcome? Will the Chinese leadership or the public be the driving force for overcoming this unprecedented challenge? Everyone around the world is holding their breath. We would really like to hear the views of the Chinese people, including those studying or working in Singapore. Let us know what you think.
Source: The New York Times. Photo credit: Rampant Gian.
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