China International Environmental Issues Report

Author: Song Guotao et al
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Since the beginning of the new century, the world situation has been volatile, China-US relations have been tortuous, Japan has attempted to become a political powerhouse, India's military strength has quietly risen, and the Kashmir conflict has repeatedly flared up, with the South China Sea in turmoil. China faces a complex and severe international environment. Regarding these issues, experts in international affairs have provided insightful analyses and comments.
Excerpt:
V. China Advances Rationally
Facing the dawn of the new century, China is striving to join the ranks of world powers. However, due to historical and realistic reasons, the path to national prosperity and people's strength will be long. For many years, we have been proud and of China's vast territory and abundant resources. Indeed, China's extensive land and mountains are rich in infinite resources. But for years, uncontrolled and unplanned development, even in some places at certain times, has led to excessive exploitation and inefficient use of resources, causing tremendous waste. At the same time, China has the world's largest population. Although China has achieved remarkable success in population control over the past two decades, the family planning policy has helped reduce the population by about 350 million, this achievement has not completely resolved China's population issues, and the burden of population growth remains. Of course, we should recognize that under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people, through their hard work and perseverance, have made great achievements and created remarkable material progress. But in the wave of global development, we must broaden our perspective and consider the future generations as well.
1. A Dilemma
China is facing a dilemma. On one hand, as the world's largest developing country, although China has basically resolved the issue of food and clothing for its people, the demand for development remains strong. Development is the hard truth, and it is the fundamental way to solve all problems. On the other hand, although China has vast resources, the per capita share is relatively small, and the waste is astonishing, with extremely low utilization efficiency. If this continues, it is likely that in a few decades, we will face a situation where resources are stretched thin. On December 19, 2000, the State Council Information Office published the "White Paper on China's Population and Development in the 21st Century." According to the white paper, a sample survey showed that by the end of 1999, China's total population was 1.26 billion (excluding Hong Kong, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan Province), accounting for about 21% of the world's total population. After nearly 30 years of effort, China has effectively controlled its rapid population growth. The birth rate and natural growth rate decreased from 33.4‰ and 25.83‰ in 1970 to 15.23‰ and 8.77‰ in 1999, respectively, and the total fertility rate dropped below the replacement level, placing China among the countries with low fertility rates in the world. Under economically underdeveloped conditions, China has achieved a historic transformation in its population reproduction pattern—from high birth rates, low mortality, and high growth to low birth rates, low mortality, and low growth—in a relatively short time, completing a path that some developed countries took decades or even centuries to traverse. However, China's population will continue to grow in the long term, with an average net increase of more than 10 million people per year in the next decade, bringing huge pressure to the economy, society, resources, environment, and sustainable development. The rapid development of the national economy and the significant enhancement of comprehensive strength have greatly improved the living standards of the Chinese people. The great achievements in population control through family planning have saved a large amount of support costs for the country and society, alleviated the pressure of an overly large population on resources and the environment, and promoted economic development and the improvement of people's living standards. By the end of 1999, China had reduced the number of rural poor people who had not yet achieved food security from over 250 million in the late 1970s to 34 million, with the proportion of rural poor people declining from 33‰ to 3‰. The basic needs of the rural poor have been largely met.
A lack of foresight will inevitably lead to near-term worries. At the beginning of the new century, we need to recognize that statistics show that by the middle of the 21st century, China's population will reach a peak of close to 1.6 billion before gradually declining. Therefore, in the future, how to achieve coordinated development between population and economy, society, resources, environment, and national modernization is not a problem that has already been solved, but a challenge that requires us to continuously explore answers and find solutions. The pressure of population must never be underestimated. Considering China's resource issues in the context of its population, it is even more cause for concern. Indeed, on China's vast 9.6 million square kilometers of land, there are enormous quantities of various resources. However, due to certain historical reasons, natural resources in China have long been used without payment. Moreover, another severe problem is the extremely low energy utilization efficiency. Only