{"id":16649,"date":"2017-12-18T21:04:32","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T13:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=16649"},"modified":"2018-04-04T20:31:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T12:31:33","slug":"chinese-regimes-anti-pollution-policies-doomed-to-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2017\/12\/18\/16649\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese regime\u2019s anti-pollution policies doomed to fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mass environmental movement is needed<\/strong>\u00a0with\u00a0green production under workers\u2019 control<\/strong><\/p>\n

Li Yiming, chinaworker.info<\/p>\n

The word \u201cenvironment\u201d\u00a0was\u00a0mentioned 89 times by Xi Jinping in his 19th\u00a0<\/sup>CCP\u00a0Congress report, even more than \u201ceconomy\u201d. He has sent out investigative teams from the\u00a0central\u00a0government to the provinces to check on the progress of\u00a0anti-pollution measures. Reports indicate that over 12,000 officials and 18,000 companies have been prosecuted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The media claims that this is China\u2019s largest environmental protection campaign in history. Xi seems to be an ardent\u00a0champion of the environment, but in fact he is forced into action by increasing anti-pollution protests from below, as well as the enormous economic loss due to environmental destruction. However, economic pressure and\u00a0an unofficial\u00a0boycott\u00a0by\u00a0local governments mean\u00a0Xi\u2019s\u00a0policies will not\u00a0achieve substantial results.<\/p>\n

In October, the medical periodical\u00a0The Lancet<\/em>\u00a0published a study, reporting that more than 1.8 million Chinese were killed by pollution in 2015, accounting for one-fifth of alldeaths in China. An earlier report published by Nanjing University reveals that among the 74\u00a0main cities\u00a0of\u00a0China, one-third of the deaths can be attributed to PM2.5 pollution\u00a0(dangerous airborne small dust particles).<\/p>\n

What is more, decreasing levels of PM2.5 in the Pearl River Delta\u00a0and some other regions have led to\u00a0a new problem\u00a0\u2013 a rapid increase in ground level\u00a0ozone. Ozone is produced by other pollutants being exposed to sunlight.\u00a0It is associated with strokes and heart disease, and has led to more than 36,000 premature deaths in China in the last\u00a0three\u00a0years. The\u00a0dictatorship\u2019spolicy of \u201ceconomy first\u201d has led to generalized\u00a0pollution, and has making\u00a0the CCP regime\u00a0\u201cattend to one thing and lose sight of another\u201d.<\/p>\n

Increasing\u00a0and serious\u00a0pollution, as well as rising\u00a0public\u00a0concern over the health effects, have led to mass anti-pollution protests across the country. In November,\u00a0the\u00a0masses in Zhaoqing, Guangdong,\u00a0went onto the streets to protest a third attempt by the local government to build a garbage incinerator, the project was suspended twice in the past due to public protests.<\/p>\n

The inability to solve its pollution problems has tarnished the authority of the CCP regime.\u00a0It\u00a0is compelled to respond, but the campaign against pollution\u00a0will add more pressure onto the already fragile economy, which means that Xi\u00a0is unlikely to be pursue it at all costs.<\/p>\n

In the first half of 2016, the government further loosened the environmental protection regulations\u00a0to stimulate the weak economy, and\u00a0this\u00a0led to the revival of many\u00a0high-polluting industries such as steel, which aggravated the air pollution problem.<\/p>\n

A widespread\u00a0smog\u00a0cloud covering\u00a01.88 million square kilometres appeared over 90 cities in December that year. In the first three quarters of this year, the PM2.5 readings in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region increased by 10\u00a0percent\u00a0compared to the year before. The effects have been global \u2013 greenhouse gas emissions have increased sharply in 2017 after two flat years, due to the rebound for heavy industry in China. Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale estimates that the environmental protection measures will cost\u00a0China 0.25 percent of annual GDP, and thus when new risks of economic\u00a0slowdown\u00a0arise, Xi is\u00a0likely\u00a0to\u00a0relax pollution controls again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bureaucratic<\/strong>\u00a0measures leading to chaos<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the same time, Xi Jinping is also facing\u00a0resistance\u00a0from local governments;\u00a0shown in\u00a0the fact that he is compelled to send out investigative teams to the local level. However, such direct intervention by the\u00a0central\u00a0government has\u00a0caused\u00a0chaos. Many officials seek to avoid punishment by closing down all factories before the arrival of the investigative teams, regardless of whether the factories are up to\u00a0official\u00a0environmental standards or not. This has forced the Ministry of Environmental Protection to intervene and stop such over-reaction.<\/p>\n

To solve the serious winter smog problem, the government banned the burning of coal in Beijing and its vicinity. Yet the policy was hastily implemented with many regions not having a stable supply of natural gas, leaving\u00a0at least tens of\u00a0thousands of families without any heating over the harsh winter.<\/p>\n

Combating pollution requires mass environmental protection campaigns and workers\u2019 democratic control of\u00a0clean production\u00a0on a\u00a0socialist basis. Xi\u2019s\u00a0attempts to solve the environmental crisis with a mixture of bureaucratic and \u2018market\u2019 measures\u00a0will not achieve any substantial\u00a0long-lasting\u00a0results, and will certainly trigger further mass anger.<\/p>\n

Beggar-thy-neighbour<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would be withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, and global media dubbed China as the new international leader in fighting climate change. Yet, the Chinese regime is one of the greatest obstacles to combating climate change. Since the launch\u00a0of the\u00a0\u2018Belt and Road\u2019\u00a0project, China has been building\u00a0large amounts of\u00a0coal power plants around the world, and it has also surpassed Japan\u00a0as\u00a0the largest exporter of coal power generation equipment in the world. One of China\u2019s largest producers\u00a0of electrical equipment, Shanghai Electric, has announced its plans to build 6,285MW power plants in Egypt, Pakistan, and Iran, which is equivalent to\u00a0ten\u00a0times China\u2019s\u00a0domestic construction plans.<\/p>\n

The CCP regime hopes to use the overseas market to alleviate the pressures of carbon reduction measures on its\u00a0own\u00a0electric and coal industries. These new power plants mean that climate control targets set in the Paris Agreement will be\u00a0Mission\u00a0Impossible. The World Bank has criticised China for using poorer countries with weaker environmental protection regulations as pollution havens, but at the same time,\u00a0the World Bank\u00a0has\u00a0also\u00a0deregulated environmental limits to compete with China. This is a race to\u00a0the\u00a0bottom\u00a0at the expense of the\u00a0climate\u00a0and the health of the masses.<\/p>\n

Socialists stand against the capitalist class who seek profits at the expense of the environment and the health of the masses, we are also against imperialist powers exporting\u00a0their\u00a0pollution problem to other countries.<\/p>\n

The only solution to the global\u00a0climate and pollution crisis is to build an international working class movement to oppose the \u201cprofit first\u201d capitalist system. We need to nationalise the banks and the big corporations and to place them under workers\u2019 democratic control\u00a0and management, promote clean production under democratic planning, and invest\u00a0more capital and resources in developing clean energy and green technology.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mass environmental movement is needed\u00a0with\u00a0green production under workers\u2019 control<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":16595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nChinese regime\u2019s anti-pollution policies doomed to fail - China Worker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2017\/12\/18\/16649\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinese regime\u2019s anti-pollution policies doomed to fail - 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