The promotion of sustainable development in China with reference to its growth and conservation
Abstract: China is experiencing one of the most extraordinary economic growth rates in world history, since the onset of its ‘open door’ policy of economic reform and liberalization. This explosive growth over the last 2 decades has left a serious scar on the environment and the prospects of sustainable development. In response to this growing dilemma, China has initiated several environmental reforms, environmental protection initiatives, and environmental policies, to ensure sustained Chinese economic growth, while at the same time ensuring environmental protection.
Introduction
Due to China’s rapid rise economically and industrially, as well as its huge population, which has done serious damage to the environment, China is now facing an environmental crisis, like no country before. China’s economic reform has increased the pressure on the environment, from air and water pollution to soil erosion and desertification (Eyferth, Ho & Vermeer. 2003: 107). Economical and Environmental Sustainable development in China is being promoted by the Chinese government in various ways and through various initiatives as China is being confronted by an economic explosion on the one hand and serious environmental decline on the other.
The current environmental problems in China are discussed under the categories of air, land, fresh water, the ocean, and biodiversity. The large-scale resettlement of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area is discussed in terms of its environmental impact, the challenges that the Chinese government faced and their response to these challenges. Next, China’s limited forest resources and the Chinese governments’ response to this ecological dilemma receive attention. Lastly, the economic and environmental implication of China’ accession into the WTO, is discussed.
The current environmental problems in China are discussed under the categories of air, land, fresh water, the ocean, and biodiversity. The large-scale resettlement of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area is discussed in terms of its environmental impact, the challenges that the Chinese government faced and their response to these challenges. Next, China’s limited forest resources and the Chinese governments’ response to this ecological dilemma receive attention. Lastly, the economic and environmental implication of China’ accession into the WTO, is discussed.
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| Shanghai pollution |
Environmental problems in China
China faces a myriad of environmental problems, which ranges from air pollution, biodiversity losses, cropland losses, depleted fisheries, desertification, disappearing wetlands, grasslands degradation, and increasing frequency and scale of human-induced natural disasters, to invasive species, overgrazing, interrupted river flows, salinization, soil erosion, trash accumulation, and water pollution and shortages (Liu & Diamond. 2005:224). China’s environmental problems are categorized under air, land, fresh water, oceans and biodiversity and each will be discussed separately (Liu & Diamond. 2005:226).
The first category where environmental problems in China occur is air. The air quality of China is generally low with 75 percent of urban dwellers living below China’s air-quality standard with a high incidence of acid rain, caused mainly by the increasing output of industrial waste gasses (Liu & Diamond. 2005:226). Rapid industrial growth of approximately 10 percent annually has pushed China’s sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels and soot emissions to 20 billion and 11 billion tons respectively in 2000, where it led the world SO2 emissions (Ho & Vermeer. 2006:148). According to Wen (2009:24), China in 2007 overtook the U.S. as the world’s largest Carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter. “The Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly indicated that most of the global warming observed over the past 50 years, was likely induced by the increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), due to human activities” (China’s National Climate Change Programme. 2007:4).
The second category of environmental problems within China is, land. According to the UNDP, around 38 percent of China has been affected by soil erosion and is the area of desert increasing at an annual rate of 2 500 km² (Nolan.2005:243). The Chang Jiang (Yangtze) river’s sediment discharges from soil erosion exceed that of the Nile and Amazon rivers combined (Liu & Diamond. 2005:226). Soil quality, fertility, and quantity have declined, due to long-term fertilizer use and a pesticide-related decline in soil-renewing earthworms (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227). Salinization has affected 9 percent of Chin’s lands, due to poor design and irrigation systems (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227).
China’s cropland has been reduced by a combination of soil problems, urbanization, and land appropriation for mining, forestry, and aquaculture, threatening food security (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227). Cropland to the extent of 100 000 km² has been taken over or damaged by unrecycled and unused industrial waste and domestic trash in open fields around cities (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227).
The third category of environmental problems China faces is fresh water. Industrial and municipal wastewater discharges as well as Agri- and aqua-cultural run-offs of fertilizers, pesticides, and manure, has led to poor and declining river and groundwater sources, as well as widespread eutrophication (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227). The majority of Chinese lakes are seriously eutrophied, yet chemical fertilizer usage is on the rise (Ho & Vermeer. 2006:147). China’s emission of organic water pollutants is as large as that of the U.S., Russia, India, and Japan combined (Nolan.2005:243). China is also facing one of the world’s worst water shortages, since per capita it only has 35 percent of the world’s freshwater resources. A large number of Chinese cities, which depend on groundwater from aquifers, are starting serious water shortages in the face, since these aquifers are becoming depleted and in some cases, coastal aquifers are being filled by seawater (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227). Rising fish consumption and overfishing have also degraded freshwater fisheries, disturbing the eco-system (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227).
Another category where China experience environmental problems, is the ocean. Almost all of China’s 3 million km² sea area, extending up to 200 nautical miles of its coast, is polluted by pollutants from land plus oil spills (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227). In 2003, 20 outlets alone of the 867 identified outlets, were pumping 880 million tonnes of sewage water, containing 1.3 million tonnes of pollutants, made up of lead, cadmium, and arsenic, into the ocean, leading to an ever increasing amount of red tides (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227). Here too, fishing stocks have been severely depleted due to overfishing and pollution (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227).
The last category of China’s environmental problems is that of biodiversity. More than 10 percent of the world’s vascular plant and terrestrial vertebrate species can be found in China. In 2005, 15-20 percent of all species were considered endangered, despite concerted efforts by the Chinese government over the past two decades to protect plant and animal life through the establishment of nature reserves, zoo’s, museums and botanical gardens (Liu & Diamond.2005:228). Invading pests and weeds, such as ragweed, water hyacinth, and Amazonian snails, have furthermore, inflicted heavy losses on the agricultural, aquacultural, forestry and livestock sectors of the Chinese economy (Liu & Diamond. 2005:228).
Factors that have contributed to the cause and exacerbation of these environmental problems include; China’ huge population in the excess of 1.3 billion people; the presence of foreign multi-national companies that have their base of operations in China, producing most of the world’s consumer export goods; the rapid rate of industrialization and urbanization within China and consequent economic explosion; the fact that China is the leading consumer of fertilizer and the second largest consumer of pesticides, which leads to air, water, and land pollution; China’s transportation network’s explosive growth; energy inefficient, outdated and polluting technologies in much of China’s industry with regards to coal mining and cement, paper and chemical production; irrigation methods that rely on inefficient surface methods that waste water, cause eutrophication and wash nutrients out of the soil and sediments into rivers; China is the second largest energy consumer in the world; and the fact that China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world, the main cause of its air pollution and acid rain, to mention a few (Liu & Diamond. 2005:224-229).
Case Study: Three Gorges Dam project. What can we learn?
Large-scale resettlement of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir area is one of the biggest challenges facing the Chinese government, since the commencement of the Three Gorges Dam project in 1994 and estimated completion in 2009, where an estimate of at least 1.2 million people had to be resettled to areas above the inundation line of the Yangtze River Three Gorges reservoir area. The main issue is whether there is sufficient environmental and carrying capacity in the Three Gorges Dam area (Heggelund. 2006: 149). Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of people that a given area will maintain in perpetuity under a given system of usage without land degradation setting in, while environmental capacity can be defined as linking together several issues, such as resettlement, economic development, and ecological and environmental protection of a fixed area (Heggelund. 2006:150,152).
The Three Gorges Dam resettlement process entails long-term impoverishment risks. A large and growing body of literature on risk related to the development-induced displacement of people and increasing awareness of the rights of the displaced people now exists (Heggelund. 2006:153). Cernea’s IRR (Impoverished Risks and Reconstruction) model has been one of the more influential and it presents operational tools and has identified key risks in resettlement (Heggelund. 2006:153). According to Heggelund (2006:153), this IRR model is relevant for identifying risks in the Three Gorges Dam Project.
Even though China has in many ways managed to pre-empt the potential risks of the model, by greatly improving its resettlement programmes since the 1980s, the process is not going as smoothly (Heggelund. 2006:154). Selected points or dimensions of the IRR model in the Chinese context has been identified and include landlessness and food insecurity, joblessness, and marginalization and social disarticulation each of which will be briefly discussed (Heggelund. 2006:154).
One of the biggest challenges for rural resettlement in the Three Gorges area is lack of available farmland, which ultimately leads to food insecurity (Heggelund. 2006:154). A lot of the land will be inundated, leaving very little to work with, since a lot of the land is mountainous and a large portion already under cultivation. Before inundation, population density was already high and losing land will exacerbate the problem further. Even before resettlement, adequate farmland was a problem in some areas and inundation will only aggravate the problem further (Heggelund. 2006:154).
Another dimension of the IRR model is joblessness. Many farmers will lose their land and are forced to live in towns and cities, forcing them to change their occupation and seek alternative employment in urban areas (Heggelund. 2006:156). Finding employment may seem difficult for many and without land, they may not meet their daily subsistence needs (Heggelund. 2006:156). Unemployment in urban areas, severely restrict the prospects of rural farmers moving into urban areas, engaging in non-farm work (Heggelund. 2006:156).
Relocatees, who are unable after resettlement to regain their economic strength, will be faced by marginalization (Heggelund. 2006:157). The rural population will, due to inundation, be unable to use their skills and farm the land as before (Heggelund. 2006:157). There are also secondary migrants who have lost their land due to the relocation and reconstruction of homes for primary migrants who lived below the inundation line (Heggelund. 2006:157). Again those who have lost their land are forced to seek alternative occupations within urban areas, with relatively few skills and existing unemployment in urban areas. Community solidarity, such as sharing of losses are non-existent in the Three Gorges resettlement, instead, conflicts between the host population and relocatees are common (Heggelund. 2006:158). Resettlement negatively affects relocatees in the sense that family networks are being disturbed, which traditionally is very important in China (Heggelund. 2006:158).
Limitations to the IRR model in the Three Gorges Resettlement are; absence of the rule of law, which includes, non-existent public participation in the decision making process, arrests and humiliation of protesting relocatees, exclusion of human rights; a refusal to consider population pressure, diminishing natural resources and environmental pollution when resettlement is planned; the corruption and embezzlement of resettlement funds due to decentralised authorities responsible for funds management; and little focus on the social aspects and the social trauma of broken networks when friends and families are forced to split up and ancestral land has to be abandoned (Heggelund. 2006:159-160).
The Chinese authorities responded to the resettlement problems by initiating two steps, namely to move 125 000 people out of the reservoir area and by re-issuing new resettlement regulations. Previously Chinese authorities resettled people in the vicinity of their former homes, whether it was sustainable or not, but with their new approach, they relocated people to other provinces, aiming to protect the environment, whilst also reconstructing livelihoods for the resettled population (Heggelund. 2006:161). The fact that the majority of these people will be moved to provinces that are situated in the eastern coastal provinces or along or close to the Yangtze River, has increased the chances of successful resettlement (Heggelund. 2006:161). One major change in the resettlement regulations, is the increased emphasis on environmental protection and all sections of the improved regulations have articles that have instructions regarding the rational use of natural resources, environmental protection and water and soil conservation (Heggelund. 2006:162).
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| Three Gorges Dam |
Degradation and restoration of forest ecosystems
Over the past 4 decades, nearly half of China’s forest’s have been destroyed, leaving China with one of the most sparse forest covers in the world (Nolan. 2005:243). Deforestation is furthermore, a major cause of soil erosion and flooding (Liu & Diamond. 2005:227). China has very limited forest resources with both the forest area and forest cover well below the world average. (Wenhua. 2004:518,525) Even though the government has increasingly addressed forest resource protection, the fact remains that degradation of forests, caused by unsound exploitation, forest fires and pests, and diseases, remains a serious threat.
Further factors that have led to the deterioration of forest and a reduction in biodiversity includes; rapid population growth and consequent pressure on land, coupled with the development of agriculture, industry, and construction; over-exploitation of forest resources; and the subsequent farming activities on steep slopes (Wenhua. 2004:518-519). Forest degradation led to a series of hazards and natural disasters, like soil erosion, desertification, and floods, so much so that 38 percent of China’s total land area was eroded by 2004 (Wenhua. 2004:519). Even though large scale plantation-style forests have increased, natural forests have declined, resulting in a loss and fragmentation of natural habitats for many plant and animal species, leading to the extinction of at least 200 plant species and the loss of habitat for more than 61 percent of wildlife species (Wenhua. 2004:519). In 1998, flash flooding as a result of the loss of vegetative cover cost the Chinese government US $ 20 billion in damages (Wenhua. 2004:519).
In response to this dilemma the Chinese government, devised a strategy of forest development under the framework of the sustainable development of the country was published, with the following points for the restoration of degraded forest systems, namely: 1. The conservation and management of natural forest resources; 2. the control of forest fires and the protection of forests from insects and pests; 3. rational forest felling and regeneration; strengthening the development of protective shelterbelts in key environmental fragile areas; 4. the conservation of biodiversity and the establishment of nature reserves; 5. afforestation and mandatory conservation of farmland to forest lands; 6. the establishment of a strategy for sustainable development of forestry; 7. forestry research, education and training; and 8. policies to regulate forestry (Wenhua. 2004:519-525).
Highlights of these strategy points include: the establishment of the NFCP (National Forest Conservation Programme), which aim to restore natural forests, planting forests for soil and water protection, increasing timber production in forest plantations, protecting existing natural forests from excessive cutting, and maintaining a multiple-use policy in natural forests; China’s aims to enhance its overall capability for fire prevention and control, with emphasis on prevention, by means of prediction and forecasting, forest fire monitoring and look-out, radio communication systems, airstrips for surveillance planes and the establishment of firebreaks; an acute reduction in forest cover and deterioration of forest resources due to an indiscriminate system of tree felling and where no attention were being paid to regeneration, has led to government intervention, whereby government strictly control tree feeling, and selective cutting instead of clear-cutting is encouraged, as well as where regeneration is required immediately after cutting; the establishment of five ecological forest projects as part their strategy to strengthen the development of protective shelterbelts in key environmental fragile regions; the conservation and utilization of biodiversity, wild fauna and wetlands by promulgating laws to regulate and protect it, such as the Forestry Law and Wild Animal Protection Law; efforts by the Chinese government to establish natural forest reserves and to save and protect rare and endangered animal and plant species; Afforestation, to rehabilitate mountain areas, highlands, abandoned land, degraded cultivated lands and dry areas and has been used with success in China; a successful program launched by the Chinese government to combat soil erosion and rehabilitate sandy areas, the “grain for green program”, whereby farmland are being transformed into forests or grassland, and farmers who have lost their land, being compensated by the central government; China’s strategy for sustainable development of forestry; it’s great achievements in forestry research and improved forestry education, especially public education, creating awareness about the uses and value of forests; Reform in the form of a legal system, to regulate forestry and ensure forestry development; and a legal framework in conjunction with the Forestry Law and the Desertification Control Law, to secure sustainable forestry development (Wenhua. 2004:519-525).
Chinese environmental policy: Successes and Challenges
Since 1998, the implementation of the Chinese environmental policy had a series of successes. However, “The state of the environment in China is unsatisfactory”, and despite some achievements, the environmental policy has not achieved the expected results (Bao. 2006:13). It must be mentioned that China’s environmental policy, unlike those of advanced industrialized countries, has been formulated and implemented from top to bottom, without grassroots participation in its formation, as a result of China’s centralized socialist political system (Bao. 2006:2).
Successes include; the lowered rate of pollution emission to unit production in some sectors; a drop in the total amount of primary pollutant emissions, such as SO2, smoke, industrial powder, CO2 and industrial solid waste; the construction of new sewage treatment plants, automatic monitoring stations for water quality testing and air; increases in the number of nature reserves; increased vegetation cover through afforestation; the protection of wetlands; restoring natural grassland vegetation; conversion of farmland into forest areas; reduction in coal burning emissions; the advancement of science and technology to combat environmental pollution, which included improved production technologies in some fields such as paper making, printing and dyeing , processing of high density organic waste water, the treatment of urban sewage, and incineration of harmful waste; improved urban environmental consciousness, including environmental awareness and education; the establishment and strengthening of environmental NGO’s; Improved co-operation and communication with international society; and the signing of International environmental conventions agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol (Bao. 2006:10-13).
The challenges or problems China’s Environmental policy is facing, are: bureaucratic fragmentation, in the sense that the various organizations, responsible for formulating, implementing and supervising environmental policy, have overlapping functions, unclear rights, and responsibilities, and has therefore greatly interfered with policy implementation; the fact that environmental protection is in conflict with economic growth, since the CCP in its core work still focuses on the economic development of China and promotion for officials at all levels, is mainly based on their ability to promote economic growth; the presence of structural contradictions or defects within the system of law and its implementation of environmental protection standards and practices, one being the fact that China’s environmental legal system has eleven sources, thus resulting in confusion and lower efficiency of law implementation and local protection, exacerbated by the fact that judiciaries cannot make independent judgments, since local governments pay their salaries and could, therefore, influence their decisions; and lastly, the fact that peasants’ environmental consciousness has not been turned into practice, therefore lacking in playing any role in environmental decision-making and this weakness of environmental awareness amongst Chinese peasants has seriously affected the implementation of the environmental protection policy in China (Bao. 2006:13-17).
China has formulated some comprehensive environmental policies and some achievements were made during the implementation, but China needs to overcome the structural issues mentioned above if it wants to realize the unification of economic, social and environmental benefits. China’s environmental problems are not limited to scientific and technological questions, but are integrated with China’s social, economic and political development (Bao. 2006:17).
Economical and Environmental implications of the relationship between China and the WTO
Predictions were made prior to China’s accession into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), that China would not only benefit economically, but that it would receive significant environmental rewards. However, as it panned out, overall environmental benefits projected did not materialize, in fact, some of the greatest economic advances in both the industrial and agricultural sectors, due to China’s WTO membership, are seriously exacerbating China’s most severe environmental problems and some of the world’s greatest ecological crises (Jahiel. 2006:189,194).
China’s ecological condition prior to accession into the WTO seems to have been in a better state than now since joining the WTO. Gradual liberalization of trade and investment policies brought about a huge economic explosion, as well a broad improved impact on the environment (Jahiel. 2006:191). Environmental improvements during this period included: greater access to less-polluting technologies, pollution abatement equipment, and advanced environmental management practices; China’s move away from energy-intensive dirty industries towards labour-intensive light industries with less pollution; and heightened international awareness and commitment to assist addressing China’s environmental problems, which contributed towards China’s own efforts to develop an extensive environmental protection apparatus, which included environmental laws, regulations and policies. Chai (in Jahiel. 2006:192), however, notes that despite these positive developments the vastly increased scale of trade far exceeded the positive of cleaner production industries. This period was further characterized by negative effects such as: vast exploitation of China’s natural resources, in pursuit of the export market; the over-harvesting of China’ coastal resources to meet international demands; and the transfer of pollution from dirty industries and the waste trade (Jahiel. 2006:192).
With China’s accession into the WTO, these environmental problems, despite positive projections, grew worse. When China joined the WTO, it had to reduce its import tariffs and all export subsidies, lower or eliminate import quotas, and open certain sectors of the economy to foreign trade forcing structural changes to the economy (Jahiel. 2006:193). Ecological benefits that were predicted by Chinese and International environmental officials, included: the import of superior environmental protection equipment and less-polluting industrial and agricultural technologies, due to lowered subsidies and tariffs; environmentally-beneficial structural adjustments to the Chinese industrial and agricultural economies, due to heightened international competition; increased imports of consumer products and raw materials, due to greater access to low-priced foreign goods, will lead to reductions in domestic energy consumption, pollution emissions and impacts on natural resources; and the strengthening of China’s legal code, due to increased imports, to avoid an influx of pollution-intensive or environmentally-harmful products and demand the adoption of stricter domestic environmental health and safety codes based on international standards (Jahiel. 2006:193-194).
These predictions, however, did not materialize as expected. Economic growth due to WTO accession, grew beyond expectations and it must be said that certain structural adjustments, technological changes, and legal and cultural developments, did indeed benefit the environment, but for the most part, these economic changes in fact only exacerbated China’s most severe environmental problems (Jahiel. 2006:194). Economically speaking, growth has been explosive. Within 3 years of joining the WTO, Foreign Direct Investment grew almost 30 percent, foreign trade doubled, exceeding USD 1 trillion, and China passed Japan as the third largest importer (Jahiel. 2006:194).
The question, however, remains, what was the ecological and environmental impact of China’s accession into the WTO? Jahiel explored the industrial and agricultural sectors of China that have prospered most under this trade regime since WTO accession and came to the conclusion that it has caused significant harm to the Chinese environment (Jahiel. 2006:195). According to Chai (in Jahiel. 2006:195), the scale or extent of overall economic growth is more critical for the environment, than solely the shift in balance between various sectors. Even though China moved away from the capital-intensive heavy industries towards less-polluting labor-intensive industries, the fact remains that these labor-intensive industries’ growth was so substantial, that the total emissions still rose, despite the fact that pollution intensity of individual firms decreased (Jahiel. 2006:195-196). Thus the scale of light industry growth is so large that it’s having an overall negative impact on the environment (Jahiel. 2006:196).
The most important industrial and agricultural sectors in China responsible for leaving a large ecological footprint are: textiles; the automobile industry; and Fruit vegetables, horticultural products and aquaculture (Jahiel. 2006:196-201). The factors that contribute so largely to damaging the environment within these sectors, include: chemicals used in printing and dyeing processes, heavy consumption of water in the manufacturing processes and the generation of large volumes of difficult-to-treat wastewater in the textile industry; destructive manufacturing processes and car emissions as a result of consumption, in the fast-growing Chinese automobile industry; the increased use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers, antibiotics and hormones, in some cases not only detrimental to the environment, but banned internationally, the increase in genetically engineered food; and ineffective corrupt land use practices, within the agricultural sector (Jahiel. 2006:196-201).
According to Jahiel (2006:203), The Chinese government faces a dilemma. It has followed developmentalist policies, congruent with those of the WTO, which prioritize maximum efficiency and economic growth and consequently have had an economic explosion. However, the cost China is paying now includes; intensified socio-economic disparities, heightened self-serving actions by local political leaders and increased environmental harms, leading to a surge of political discontent. China will have to make a strong commitment to pursue growth in its own environmental interest and to prevent the transfer of environmental problems to the rest of the world and the WTO will have to start incorporating the environment into their legal framework and ensure the “greening of their rules” (Jahiel. 2006:205).
Conclusion
China is experiencing one of the most extraordinary economic growth rates in world history, since the onset of its ‘open door’ policy of economic reform and liberalization. This explosive growth over the last 2 decades has left a serious scar on the environment and the prospects of sustainable development. In response to this growing dilemma, China has initiated several environmental reforms, environmental protection initiatives, and environmental policies, to ensure sustained Chinese economic growth, while at the same time ensuring environmental protection. The resettlement of a huge section of Chinese people below the inundation line of the planned Yangtze River, Three Gorges Dam Project, brought about not only environmental degradation on the resettled area, due to overcapacity, but also had huge socio-economic implications for relocatees who never had a say in the matter.
China’s forestry resources faced a real dilemma, but in response to this dilemma the Chinese government, established a strategy of forest development under the framework of the sustainable development to restore degraded forest systems, which they have accomplished with great success through conservation, afforestation, shelterbelts, conversion of farmland into forests, the establishment of nature reserves, among some of the main strategies.
China’s environmental policy has, despite some achievements, not achieved the expected results and needs to overcome the structural issues that challenge its effectiveness if it wants to realize the unification of economic, social and environmental benefits. The accession of China into the WTO did bring about economic benefits for China as predicted, but at an environmental cost nobody foresaw and China will have to make a commitment to pursue growth in its own environmental interest, if it wants to sustain its economic growth.
China is indeed at a crossroads and will have to balance its economic growth with environmental protection, if it desires to leave a China for future generations and an improved ecological environment for the rest of the world. Due to its scale, China’s environmental crisis not only affects China, but the rest of the world, so it’s in the whole world’s benefit for China to act now. China is acting, but is it enough to stop the freight train of disaster?
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