PRC Official - Now "Not The Time" For China To Consider Binding Emissions Limits

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The scale of the environmental damage in China may induce some people to wonder what is the point of turning out the lights and leaving the car at home if such harm is being done on the other side of the world in the cause of maintaining 10 per cent annual growth. That would be a confession of defeat, or an attempt to shrug off the responsibilities of developed nations. The Chinese authorities dismiss the Dutch report as "meaningless". On Thursday, an official said it was "not the time" for the PRC to consider binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Chinese point out that, given the population differences, the US was still way ahead of the PRC in per capita emissions, and remind us that the West showed no regard for the environment during its industrial revolutions. Perfectly true, but that does not diminish the actual impact on the rest of the planet or on China itself.

Another argument that has surfaced is that it is really all the fault of the West and Japan for having moved manufacturing to China; that ducks the fact that it was China, itself, which set out to make itself an export-led manufacturing giant. Proponents of Western guilt add that the developed countries should stump up to pay to clean up the People's Republic, ignoring China's considerable bankroll in the form of more than a trillion dollars in reserves, some of which could be diverted to environmental protection.

International co-operation is certainly necessary, but the prime responsibility for the ecological disaster - and for doing something about it - must lie with China, itself. It is not a new problem. Ten years ago, when editing The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, I ran two photographs on the front page. One showed the view across the harbour during Chinese New Year when factories across the border in Guangdong province were shut; the other was taken after work had resumed. The first showed a bright and sparkling view. In the second, you couldn't see the other side.

The problem was barely recognised until recently. But the scale of the disaster can no longer be neglected as China's air pollution is carried to Korea, Japan and South-east Asia and, by some reports, right across the Pacific. An American expert on the Chinese environment, Elizabeth Economy, warns that, if the PRC's development trajectory continues as planned, it is likely to pump out more greenhouse gas emissions than all other industrialised countries combined over the next 25 years, surpassing by five times the cut in emissions sought by the Kyoto

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article2748270.ece

Way to go, China! :toast:

dependent on The U.S. and other developed nations to buy all the junk products they make. If we didn't buy all their crap, they don't have much to bring to the table. Really, no country can stand alone for the most part.