Four years ago a World Bank report landed on the desk of the Chinese health ministry containing shocking statistics on pollution-related deaths in the country, so much so that Beijing promptly engineered the removal of a third of it over fears that the findings, if they went public, could spark “social unrest”. Around 750,000 people die each year of pollution-related illnesses, the report said, many of whom fall victim to China’s distinction as the world’s leading coal consumer. The findings were smothered for years, with the final report, “Cost of Pollution in China”, resorting to abstract gauges such as the economic burden of premature deaths, rather than the cold, hard figures.
Fast forward to now and this burden has taken on a new form: China has begun to fear that the by-products of rapid industrialization and surging growth rates are now “a serious obstacle to social and economic development”, as environmental minister Zhou Shengxian said last month, and has positioned the battle against pollution as a key priority in the government’s five-year plan. On the surface this will come as welcome news to many, with Beijing acknowledging the need to look for slower, more sustainable forms of growth, but beneath lurks a different reality.
The inconvenient truth is that China’s swelling middle class and its soaring demands for energy, rising at nine percent each year, are an impediment to Zhou’s ambitions and, further down the line, the progress of the country. If energy consumption continues to increase at current rates, by 2020 China will require twice as many dams, coal-fired power stations, nuclear plants and other power sources. Factor in rapidly depleting natural resources, and a conundrum forms for the rising superpower: can it continue with its aggressive expansion of its domestic energy industry, to the detriment of its environment and people, or does it look for alternatives?
The alternatives may not be the sustainable measures mooted by Zhou, but something more sinister: China has been increasingly out-sourcing its pollutive and ecologically destructive industries to regional neighbours, relying on their flimsy environmental regulations and suppression of public disquiet on which to lump the burden. This co-opting of resource-rich smaller states like Laos and Burma has been aggressive, and shows little sign of abating; instead, the alarm bells recently sounded by Zhou could give it a further prod as Beijing looks to shift the by-products of its growth elsewhere.
Already the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation Company (CHMC) is the main economic thrust behind Burma’s largest open-pit coal mine and coal-fired power plant in Tigyit, Shan state, that a report in January said had triggered skin infections among half of the 12,000-strong local population and caused the forcible displacement of more than 320 households; people that receive no benefits from the project, given that the energy produced from the 2000 tonnes of highly pollutive lignite mined each day is shipped to a nearby cement factory for use in dam construction. A 600 megawatt coal-fired power plant, part-operated by the China Guodian Corporation, is also under construction in Sagaing division, with the power slated to be sent to Burma’s largest copper mine in nearby Monywa, operated by Chinese weapons giant Norinco. The output from Monywa will go to feed China’s booming electronics manufacturing sector, with a statement last year on the Norinco website tellingly boasting that the deal would “enhance the influence of our country in Myanmar [Burma]”. A similar agreement will also see China’s Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Group) Company, the largest steel manufacturer in the world, mine Sagaing division for nickel.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg for the pariah, pockmarked as it is by Chinese dams, mines and pipelines, and whose dependency on its northern neighbour for capital risks further subservience to Beijing’s needs. In 2009 Burma was added to a special ‘watch list’ of resource-rich countries drawn up by Beijing’s Ministry of Land and Resources, no doubt acutely aware of the convenient combination of vast natural resource capabilities and zero environmental regulations in the military-ruled country.
It has also watched as the ruling junta spent decades lining its own pockets through sales of energy to neighboring countries whilst the majority of its population suffers regular blackouts. Environmental experts from the Burma Rivers Network warned in January that China will take nearly half of the electricity produced by planned hydro power projects in Burma, with Thailand and India accounting for the majority of the remaining output. Around 10 percent will go to the Burmese military, largely for the construction of ventures like the Shwe dual pipeline project to transport Burmese gas and Middle Eastern oil offloaded on Burma’s western coast to China, while one percent will be used for domestic consumption. This is despite the fact that only one-fifth of the Burmese population have regular access to electricity.
To read the full story: http://www.dvb.no/analysis/shouldering-chinas-toxic-burden
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Lior Paritzky is the Editor in Chief and Manager of Laowaiblog, an internet platform that provides opinion and views about social phenomena in modern China. Look for Lior on Twitter: Liorpari 
At the beginning, we thought a bit compromise to the pollution would get us rich. Years later, the people who suffered most from pollution is not the ones who benefit a lot from the economic boom.
Hi Qiu,
I think all along many people knew that construction of dams and of housing (and the pollution that comes as a result) will only affect those who have no say in the matter. It is the peasants and the people from the countryside who are always pushed aside for the construction of mega projects like dams and complex buildings; A phenomenon, by the way, that is not unique only to China…
Lior
Wow. I never imagined it can be that severe. Thanks for the piece. Very informative.
Isn’t it true though that every country in history that has undergone an industrial revolution (the States, the U.K etc) have been polluting their environment and their surrounding countries? How can we, the west, complain about the wrong doings of China when we have done the same?
It is not the same thing! read the article. we are talking about pure exploitation here.
Besides, the fact that the West did it doesn’t mean it is OK. We must learn from the past and change our wrong doings – especially when dealing with a sensitive issue like pollution that can cause irreversible damage to our planet.
I can not agree with you more. In fact, I believe every developed country have such an era they would polute the environment and affect the people in and around the country. Some are even much more serious.
We Chinese govenment are trying to solve the polution problems.
After reading this post, I am not surprised, yet I am a bit disappointed. The international community just amazes me every single time, whether it is the uprising in the arab world or the lack of concern for the people of Africa, it is just failing to help countries that are genuinely being exploited – and this has been going on for centuries!
What kind of humans are we to overlook a situation like that ? Why are there no countries who pressure China to cease these actions? In 10 years, when the Burmese or Thais have no water, then we will know who to blame. But it will probably be too late then…
As a Hong Kong resident, I can say that we all suffer here from the pollution that is coming from Shenzhen. Even though a lot of people here don’t like that, obviously, most of us understand that China is developing and basically is going through its own industrial revolution. Pollution is an evident byproduct of growth.
We all hope that China will be smarter about its environmental related decisions, so our children can live in a cleaner planet.
Jerry, you are not the only one. It seems that LA gets 30% of its pollution from China. When will it end? and when will our incompetent country (the US of course) start pressuring China to ease down pollution????
Sorry gotta go I can’t breathe over here
Writing from Beijing, today is one of those more polluted days. My head hurts and I am trying to spend as little time outside as possible. Whenever I do go out, I use a mouth cover in hopes it would ease the effect.
Despite that I understand that China is in its growth process and that every country has gone stages like that, it seems so serious sometimes that I don’t understand how people here are accepting it. I guess as long as their wallets are getting full they don’t mind breathing dust
You are very patient Nathan. I am not that patient, especially after reading this article and discovering that China is actually using other countries for to satisfy its own needs. I can’t understand how the entire world is quite about this! It is simply outrageous!!!
This article doesn’t say much about the pollution in China and the pollution that the people of China are suffering from. This is really what is terrible, how many people are dying every year or are getting sick every year because of pollution or pollution related things.
No matter how fast our economy grows, I hope we citizens can live in healthy place.
demands -Vs- demands…
There are two reasons and only two for why is there such pollution and sometimes to a point of no return in the PRC.
One reason:
The true fact that in the mid 80’s, and to a sole survivor purpose, Chinese Gov had embraced FDI at no matter cost. (Ignorance + greed)
The other reason:
Main buyers = USA + Europe have been constantly pressuring China’s manufacturing for more and cheaper goods (Ignorance + greed)
Examples:
Apple, bragging about its environmental safe products, has seriously overlooked its manufacturing process for years, and killing, injuring 100’s of Chinese workers.
The fact that 66 percent of all American citizens are considered to be overweight, and that 32 percent of those people are obese – with a body mass index of over 30 – did not go without repercussions on the automotive industry, and especially the cars most US residents drive. Over the past two to three decades, as the average weight increased, so did the size of the cars, and, implicitly, the amount of fuel they took up.
Jeep has issued a new car in 2010. This car sucks at 4.7, that is as much as a truck, when actually Jeep’s statement is to pure wildlife and romantic sunsets …
Conclusion :
The planet is doomed, and why pointing the finger at China when actually the USA is still THE world’s number 1 polluting country … and is STILL refusing to sign the Kyoto Treaty …
(I will also ad that some of you should start to get a true education before posting on this blog)