What Does China Think?

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Green Cat Development

China’s ‘New Left’ do not just worry about the social impact of China’s breakneck development; they also worry about an environmental nightmare. On my own visits to Beijing, I always know when my plane has entered Chinese airspace: the pollution is so bad that I cannot see the ground. China’s air, water and land are being laid waste by the country’s relentless pursuit of economic growth. As development advances from the eastern coasts, the hinterland is becoming a barren, hellish wasteland – the poorest regions have been transformed into a dumping ground for industrial detritus. Two-thirds of China’s electricity comes from dirty coal, with a new coal-fired plant built every week. China’s factories blurt out toxic fumes and dump chemicals and waste in the rivers and lakes. Chinese agriculture uses fertilizers that are banned in the rest of the world. Already a quarter of China’s land has turned to desert, as a result of deforestation, and this is spreading at a rate of 2,460 km a year. As a result 30 per cent of China has acid rain; 75 per cent of lakes are polluted and rivers are contaminated or pumped dry; and nearly 700 million people drink water contaminated with animal and human waste. There is a shortage of arable land, as millions of peasants find that their fields are confiscated for development or contaminated by chemicals.