Backed by a strong leadership, China is believed to be on the
right track and expected to be a driving force for the developing
Asia to make a shift toward a more sustainable and
environment-friendly economic growth model, according to a top
United Nations official for the region.
Kim Hak-Su, United Nations Under-Secretary General and the
Executive Secretary of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (UNESCAP), voiced the organization's support and
confidence of success for China's determination and latest moves to
embrace a Green Growth model as desired by UNESCAP, in an interview
with Xinhua on Thursday at the UNESCAP headquarters in Bangkok.
Mr. Kim flied to Beijing Friday to attend the China Development
Forum 2007 (CDF), in which he will share a "Green Growth" blueprint
proposed by UNESCAP for policy-makers of China, to echo the theme
of the forum -- "China: Toward New Models of Economic Growth."
The CDF, an annual event sponsored by one of China's leading
thinktanks the Development Research Center of the State Council,
will gather around 80 leading executives, academics, and senior
government officials from China and abroad at the prestigious
Diaoyutai State Guesthouse to have a high-end brainstorm.
The forum takes place right after the conclusion of the annual sessions of the National People's
Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Among the hot issues raised during the
two-week meetings was resources conservation, reduction of
emissions and pollutants.
The so-called "Green Growth" model, endorsed by a regional
ministerial conference on environment and development in 2005,
means to shift focus on "economic efficiency" of the economic
growth pattern prevailing in our world today, which is based on
market prices that do not reflect the ecological costs, toward "
ecological efficiency," which emphasizes the efficiency of resource
use and minimization of environmental damage, in order to achieve a
sustainable economic and social development.
Kim said it is a most urgent task to discard the current "grow
first, clean up later" mentality and to shift toward a green growth
pattern for the Asian developing countries, which have seen a rapid
economic growth rate in latest years, but on the base of high
environmental cost and huge waste of resources, which are already
limited in face of higher population density.
Among them China was the most notable, maintaining an
unprecedented 9-10 percent growth rate in more than two decades.
That raised concerns about how long and in what way China could
sustain this high growth.
According to Kim, the risk resides in that China's growth is
more manufacture-oriented, with 53 percent of GDP deriving from
manufacturing, which means China burdens higher ecological costs.
"We have no doubt the Chinese government has adopted the concept of
Green Growth, although it may bear another name in China, and we
believe China's on the right track to do it," Kim said, pointing
out that China has taken moves to address resources reservation and
pollution deduction. UNESCAP would like to act as a reminder and
offer some advice for the Chinese government to implement related
measures.
The UNESCAP proposed?several major policy tools to achieve
Green Growth, including introduction of green tax, which uses
pollution levels as taxing base while reducing income tax,
investment on sustainable infrastructure such as resource-efficient
public transport and utility services, promotion of sustainable
consumption pattern and life-style, and promotion of green
business.
The implementation of these measures can only be driven by a
determined and powerful government. A stable and strong leadership
constitutes the biggest strength of China to enable the government
to enforce the policy measures in local levels and to convince its
citizens to change mentality about growth and their consumption
patterns in long run.
Kim noted that he is happy to see that the Chinese government
has already?announced last year six policy-direction towards a
more sustainable growth model and listed
resource?conservation?and environment protection as a
major national policy in its "11th Five-Year Plan (2006 to 2010) for
National Economic and Social Development." Among the important
targets for the period are a reduction in energy consumption per
unit of GDP by 20 percent, and a reduction of emissions of major
pollutants by 10 percent.
Kim said he has full confidence that China can fulfill these
tasks and he hoped China can serve as a role model of Green Growth
for other developing countries in the region to follow suit.
(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2007)