http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/economie_terre/268239.FR.php
The Chinese miracle turns into an ecological nightmare
Beijing no longer disputes the worrying degradation of the environment.
By Pascale Nivelle
DAILY: Saturday July 21, 2007
Propelled third world power, China keeps a low profile. The main media, still enthusiastic about national records, overlook that of growth almost in silence. The day after the announcement of the exceptional Chinese growth, they headline the overheating of the economy, the rise in interest rates (see box) and the latest environmental disasters. Without any triumphalism.
At other times, to pass in front of Germany, to follow Japan and the United States, would have triggered some pride in a country which remains poor, around the hundredth world rank in terms of GDP per capita. The 12% annual growth, predictable at the end of the year, hides a very dark sky. Inequalities, pollution, unprecedented increase in "mass incidents" (a term used for social conflicts), rising food and property prices, risk of a stock market crash, food insecurity. alerts are piling up. The Chinese economic miracle is becoming more like a nightmare every day that the leaders no longer pretend to ignore. Even if they have distilled the economy figures drop by drop in recent days, to avoid an excessively brutal announcement effect, they no longer hide their concerns. "The tendency to overheat is clear," said the National Assembly's economic and financial affairs committee, "inflation is rising."
Indomitable. It is especially the environment, linked to the too rapid growth, which crystallizes a palpable anxiety for a few months. Another palm won by China in 2006 is that of the world's most powerful emitter of CO2, revealed at the start of the week by the Environmental Monitoring Agency (MNP). Record which shows, as much as the indomitable growth, the incapacity to hold the objectives of the "harmonious society" repeated over and over. At the same time, the leaders no longer make a mystery of the problems. They no longer contest the OECD injunctions to redouble their efforts to fight pollution: "To quadruple GDP between 2002 and 2020, as expected, it will be necessary to increase in the same proportions the financing of environmental management "Said the international organization earlier this week, recalling that pollution in some Chinese cities," the worst in the world, "poses a problem that exceeds the borders of China.
Pan Yue, head of the Chinese government agency Sepa, is not far from this speech in the Beijing News. "Large polluting industries are protected by local governments," he said after one of his teams was refused entry to a copper plant in Anhui province (eastern China). ).
Blue algae. Sepa, however governmental it may be, no longer hides the reality experienced by millions of people. According to the agency, a quarter of the seven main rivers are so polluted that the simple contact of water would be dangerous. A recent inspection by Sepa in 529 factories along the Yellow River, the Yangtze and other important rivers and lakes shows that 44% of them have violated environmental laws. The government recently called, with accents reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, to "fight" against water polluters. In addition, for weeks, newspapers have been overflowing with photos and articles on the blue algae, responsible for the pollution of several large lakes. The black series started in May, with contamination of Lake Taihu, depriving 5 million inhabitants of drinking water. The new China news agency, yet a fan of positive information, reported shortly after the pollution control measures "are encountering great difficulties". Last week, information leaked from a Council of Ministers devoted to the environment: "The current situation remains quite dismal," said a leader at the exit. After ten years of double-digit growth, the revival is brutal.