Features
Sinophobia vs. China’s development model: Part 2
By Shiran Illanperuma and Dr. Vagisha Gunasekara
The first part of our series introduced the concept of “Sinophobia Inc.” and the information industrial complex surrounding it. We argued that funding from Western state and corporate sources has sought to flood media with anti-Chinese sentiment, while alternative perspectives rarely get wider coverage. Especially in Sri Lanka, the Anglicized liberal comprador elites lap up the vitriol and use it to shape public opinion.
To be specific, Sinophobia in Sri Lanka is fuelled by several elements on the political stage that may not always have converging political agendas, but rally together when it comes to the ‘China issue’. This constellation consists of Western embassies such as the US, the NGOs funded by these same governments, the pro-imperialist rightwing parties, sections of the ultranationalists, and sectarian/utopian ‘Left’ parties and intellectuals who invoke Marx only in name.
Previously, we discussed their allegations of income inequality in China, the rural-urban divide, and differing provincial outcomes in New China’s 70-year development story. This part shifts focus to criticisms surrounding the ecological and climate impact of China’s swift industrial development, which no doubt came at great environmental cost.
Total emissions: a Malthusian trap
China is now the largest CO2 emitter in the world in absolute terms. China’s coal consumption sky-rocketed with rapid industrialization post-revolution. In 2012, China consumed almost the same volume of coal as the rest of the world combined. Air pollution rose, leading to infamous stories of smog-covered cities. This certainly puts some onus on China to consider its global environmental impact, which, as we shall show below, it is doing.
Yet, the focus on China’s total emissions conveniently ignores the country’s per-capita emissions (6.4 metric tonnes), dwarfed by advanced economies like the United States (17.6mt), Australia (14.9mt), and Germany (10.4mt). The US military alone emits some 59mt of CO2, more than Sweden – and this is not even for the sake of production and consumption, but for destruction!
We can push beyond even per-capita emissions to examine China’s emissions in historical perspective by looking at cumulative global emissions. Data shows that from 1750-1950, the industrializing and colonizing West was by far the sole ecological culprit. Even to the present day, the underdeveloped countries, home to the vast majority of the world’s population, are responsible for less than 40% of historical emissions.
The world’s manufacturer/dumping ground
Trendy liberal environmentalism, popularized by corporations and I/NGOs, tends to focus on pollution caused by consumption. Less examined is the role of production. In a world of globalized value chains, where production has been decentralized to break organized labor and preserve capitalist profits, attributing emissions to any single country is tricky.
After China’s Reform and Opening-up from 1978, large numbers of Western firms relocated their manufacturing to China’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs). By 2019, China contributed around 28.7% – over a quarter – of the world’s manufacturing output. Though we may have dismissed cheaper Chinese manufactures as “Cheena badu” in the past – an attitude still prevalent with regard to COVID-19 vaccines – it was this process that created the abundance of affordable commodities we all enjoy today.
From China’s perspective, this was a historical compromise to attain the technology and market share required for rapid development. But, for consumers in the developed world, it meant they could enjoy goods manufactured cheaply in China, while not having to directly deal with the environmental impacts of the production process.
Right to development
After industrialization at the expense of their colonies, Western countries now hypocritically lecture us about environmental standards. Yet, until recently, they ‘conveniently’ held sole access to the technology to achieve these standards. Therefore calls to accede to such standards were partly to open up our markets for their monopolies.
China’s solution was to develop its own green technologies at its own pace, and at a more-affordable price level for underdeveloped countries. Today, China has the largest market share in every stage of solar-panel production. Meanwhile, it produces around half the world’s electric cars. China’s heavy investment in railways, both locally and internationally, should also be lauded for being a greener alternative to transport by road and air.
People-led policy
Before the last decade, China’s environmental policy could be described as ‘pollute first, clean up later’. Soon, air quality became a serious cause for concern, especially for a newly emerging educated middle class.
Protests in Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces over pollution led China to publish a comprehensive plan that would significantly bring down smog levels by 2017. These triggered changes in China’s environmental management policies, highlighting problems in local governments not wanting to compromise economic growth and tax revenue.
China’s vision to ‘go green’ meant changes for ordinary citizens. In the mining town of Datong, workers found new jobs in solar-power plants built on old mine sites. In 2017, millions of households had to be weaned off depending on coal, replaced with natural gas. Rural households struggled to heat homes, and some commentators challenged whether ‘it’s fair for low-income rural families to shiver so Beijing can enjoy bluer skies?’
In the last few years, Chinese government policies have enhanced environmental awareness among the people. Waste-sorting has been introduced as a “social contract” between the government and the people. There’s also a push to reduce food wastage in restaurants.
Ecological civilization
Contrary to the image of a polluting behemoth portrayed by corporate media, China today is a global leader in developing greener technologies and policies. Few outside China know of the government’s 40-year efforts in the Gobi desert to plant forests the size of Germany. China’s forest cover has increased from 12% in 1978 to 22%. A study by NASA showed that, while global green-leaf area grew by 5% since 2000, at least 25% of this growth came from China.
In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping and then US President Barack Obama issued a joint statement on climate change, and China made its first international commitment to curb carbon emissions, carving out the path to the 2015 Paris Agreement and a climate governance model based on nationally determined contributions.
In 2018, the concept of “ecological civilization” was added to the Chinese Constitution. The Ministries of Ecology and Environment and of Natural Resources were established. In 2020, Xi Jinping announced, China would reach peak emissions in 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Coal would be completely phased out in the next 40 years, and wind and solar dominate, supplemented by hydro, gas and nuclear energy.
Given the massive head-start of former colonial powers in the West, these rich countries should be miles ahead in development of green technologies and implementation of green policies. Instead, it is testament to China’s marketized socialist system how it managed to turn an underdeveloped country into a global leader in green technology and policy in just over 70 years.