New perception of development

Protecting the environment and sustainable development are now part of China's national strategy, which calls for a "scientific concept of development".

The new policy put forward by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party of China in 2003 has been calling for coordinated development between urban and rural areas, among different regions, between economic and social development, between the development of man and nature, and between domestic development and opening up to the outside world.

"The new perception of development has been set out to halt the trend of local governments, in both economically developed coastal areas and underdeveloped inland areas, pursuing economic growth at cost of ecological deterioration and many other negative social consequences," said Ma Jun, director of the Beijing Public and Environment Affairs Institute.

The Taihu Lake algae incident again clearly demonstrates a conflict between China's development and environmental protection and "the root cause of the problem is the evaluation system of Party and government officials based on GDP figures," he said.

A national investigation of the Ministry of Water Resources shows that more than 70 percent of China's waterways and 90 percent of its underground water is contaminated by pollution.

Ma's comments were echoed by Wu Xijun, Party chief of the Zhoutie Town government.

"The booming chemical industry in our town is somehow related to the GDP evaluation system," said Wu, who came to his current post in 2005. "The chemical industry is helping to resolve the local employment issue and encourage economic growth and increase GDP, which will reflect leaders' achievements."

The Central Leadership has also detected the dark side of the GDP evaluation system, and has been working on new systems of Green GDP or Happiness Index, which put public opinions into consideration.

"In the past two years, the evaluation system for officials has taken on great changes. Economic growth is not the only major factor and residents' satisfaction with their living environment has become another major index," said Wu.

Zhoutie Town has banned construction of chemical plants since 2005 and the existing factories have been ordered to meet water and gas emission standards.

After the large scale reform of the chemical industry, the town's GDP ranking has fallen from the third in Yixing City to the sixth, according to Wu.

"But I think it's worthwhile as our living environment has an opportunity to recover. A place with a better environment has more space for future development," said Wu. The town plans to import high-tech projects and develop tourism in the future.

"The scientific concept of development will not be a mere political slogan or a catchphrase," Ma said. "After being in practice for four years, the Party, government and the people have realized it will be the only right way of China's future development."

Government actions are already in the pipeline. The State Council, China's cabinet, has called for research on green taxes, looking at using a tax to bolster environmental protection. New research and trials on environmental tax and compensation policies are also underway. The authorities will audit the environmental records of listed companies, hold trials of compulsory environmental liability insurance, and strengthen oversight of export firms' environmental standards.

And the new perception of development is also winning more and more support from the public.

The Tibetan girl Degyi does not know exactly what the new concept means, even though she claimed to have heard about it on television. However, she and her family show understanding and support to government policy to end their tent restaurant business near the Qinghai Lake.

"When I was young, there are many farms around the lake and people launched a campaign of what they called 'opening up the wasteland', which resulted the dropping of the water level and the expansion," said Huage, 43, Degyi's father. "I don't want to see that keep happening."

Huage has applied to open new tent restaurants in the "accommodation zone".

"It is the most beautiful scenery to see tourists riding horses on the green grasslands by the lake and I hope this is able to last forever," said Degyi.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2007)