Environmental Issues Caused by China's Economic Progress

Since economic globalization has been prevailing from the 1990s, competition among countries around the world is increasingly intense. China promptly caught this opportunity and has become one of the largest economic bodies through the plan of innovation. In the past few years of development, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China has doubled and has been dramatically increasing, which left many European countries behind. However, excessive economic growth also brought China serious environmental issues and much inequality between rich and poor. These are a blow to the sustainability of China’s current economy, which is anticipated to be solved. Fortunately, China is currently trying to address the problems and has a strategy to handle them. In addition, China’s economy is more likely to benefit from the revolution from imitation to innovation. Therefore, the economic growth of China is moving at a stable pace of sustainability.

China’s economic progress seems not to be sustainable due to the sacrifice of the environment and economic inequality. Rapid growth causes environmental damage (Febrero 2013). For example, there was massive smog found in Beijing’s air and acid rain produced by burning coal accounts for 30% of the total pollution. Besides, three- quarters of crop fields in China’s farmland was largely reduced by industrial smog that was detected by recent satellite photographs. This is a huge lack of strong regulation and it becomes a competitive advantage that was manipulated by western countries, which means that a big country like the US utilizes the chance to export its environmental technology to gain large profit (Rosen 2011). In addition, people’s need for revenue and better living conditions were probably not satisfied. A low-interest-rate policy that adopted by the government brings no benefits to citizens who moved from farms to cities (Amadeo 2019). As a result, a number of households have low income and high consumption costs. Thus, if such phenomena are not properly rebalanced, the demand of individuals will be deeply dragged down.

Nevertheless, it is suggested that China set up a particular system to effectively address these issues. The government takes the environmental crisis as a priority and has implemented a large variety of laws and policies regarding the issue (Febrero 2013). For instance, since a reform in the late 1970s, the government has been concentrating on the stronger power of regulators and executive force. Besides, it clearly released interest rates and determined to develop a market-faced policy (Barboza 2012). These actions significantly changed the imbalance that was blocked by badly vested interests then expanding the sources of people’s demand. In the past, it possibly was the failure of policies that made urban workers earns 3.5 times more than that in rural areas did and numerous people are still living in poverty (Biswas & Hartley 2018). However, a plan named ‘poverty alleviation’ saved them and left only 3.3% of the population below the poverty line (Amadeo 2019).

China’s economy is more likely to execute a high-speed strategy from imitation to innovation with far more reforms than the past. Fast-moving innovators injected new strength into the present economy (Dutt 2018). They have a rapid prototyping process which approaches customers and fulfills their requirements then create better products. Moreover, the innovators cannot produce at the first beginning all by themselves. They needed to change from copying to fit for purpose (McKern 2016). First, they copied from others’ products at a much lower cost. Gradually, governments will bring various products that were highly developed in the market. It was well illustrated by King (2014 pp.1460-1461) that a great number of medical facilities were imitated from western countries in China because technology conditions were not standard yet. However, a few years later, the innovators had the ability to create medical devices on their own. Also, clinical research can be carried out without major foreign research organizations and nearly 80% of drug-eluting stents sold in China are completely locally manufactured. Furthermore, there is one way left to make China an innovative engine which is seeking new knowledge abroad instead of seeking new resources (McKern 2016). For instance, over many years of international expansion, Huawei has constructed a global network, developing 36 joint customer innovation centers. With other major Chinese telecoms company ZTE, they are constantly among the top 10 patent filers per year in international patent system (PCT) application procedure.

In conclusion, China’s economic growth is definitely sustainable. Despite there probably were environmental deterioration and income inequality between rich and poor during the economic fast-growing progress, China’s government has made a new alternative policy aimed at tackling such a tough situation, concentrating on environmental protection and equal shared prosperity rather than blindly increasing GDP. Furthermore, China’s economy is being evolved from imitation to innovation in order to maintain its sustainability. For the future growth of the economy, reforms and innovations are quite necessary for the consideration of long-term development and it can not only save the environment but also keep GDP growing steadily. China can do even better than now and start a new era.

References

• Amadeo, K 2019, China’s economic growth, its causes, pros, cons, and future, Balance, viewed 27 February 2019, <https://www.thebalance.com/china-s-economic-growth-cause-pros-cons-future-3305478>.
• Barboza, D 2012, ‘The imbalances in China’s economy’, The New York Times, 11 April, viewed 26 April 2019, .
• Biswas, A & Hartley, K 2018, India and China: how not to tackle inequality, The Conversation, viewed 26 April 2019, .
• Dutt, A 2018, 8 reasons why China is now the world’s innovation engine, Tech in Asia, viewed 28 February 2019, <https://www.techinasia.com/china-innovation>.
• Febrero, L 2013, New research details how China is addressing environmental challenges, LINCOLN INSTITUTE OF POLICY, viewed 26 April 2019, .
• King, S 2014, ‘Research in China from imitation to innovation’, eScienceDirect, vol.7, no.12, pp.1460-1461, viewed 27 February 2019, <https://ac.els-cdn.com/S1936879814014368/1-s2.0-S1936879814014368-main.pdf?_tid=3b257942-d044-4a21-9867-464e2c9b47b0&acdnat=1551267285_bb1f92ea813efb01078208d2900fa82a>.
• McKern, B 2016, Made in China: three ways Chinese business has evolved from imitation to innovation, TheConversation, viewed 26 February 2019, <https://theconversation.com/made-in-china-three-ways-chinese-business-has-evolved-from-imitation-to-innovation-67236>.
• Rosen, D 2011, Comparative disadvantage: what China can’t do, Rhodium Group, viewed 27 February 2019, <https://rhg.com/research/comparative-disadvantage-what-china-cant-do/>.