It really had to happen. The rape of China’s environment in the name of development had to eventually catch up with the CCP, and it’s done so in spades. At the heart of virtually all the recent rural uprisings has been one fundamental issue, i.e., the environment, whether in terms of pollution or lack of usable land. Some have maintained, rather cavalierly, that if you focus on development first, you can worry about the environment later. This article is a further indication that if draconian action isn’t taken now, there won’t be a “later” for China’s environment.

China’s environmental woes are so large that they’ve begun to generate social instability.

Choking on vile air, sickened by toxic water, citizens in some corners of this vast nation are rising up to protest the high environmental cost of China’s economic boom.

In one recent incident, villagers in this hilly coastal region grew so exasperated by contamination from nearby chemical plants that they overturned and smashed dozens of vehicles and beat up police officers who arrived to quell what was essentially an environmental riot.

“We had to do it. We can’t grow our vegetables here anymore,” said Li Sanye, a 60-year-old farmer. “Young women are giving birth to stillborn babies.”

Across China, entire rivers run foul or have dried up altogether. Nearly a third of cities don’t treat their sewage, flushing it into waterways. Some 300 million of China’s 1.3 billion people drink water that is too contaminated to be consumed safely. In rural China, sooty air depresses crop yields, and desert quickly encroaches on grasslands to the west. Filth and grime cover all but a few corners of the country.

China’s central government isn’t sitting still. It’s enacting fuel-efficiency requirements for cars and shutting down mammoth dam-building and other projects. By some accounts, it now has world-class laws on environmental protection.

Yet provincial and local officials, who feel pressure for economic growth, often shield polluters and ignore environmental laws.

So in a sense the CCP has made important progress, implementing “world-class” laws to protect the air and water and land. But of what value is the very best-written law if it remains unenforced? As the reporter says, it all goes back to corruption, the heart and soul of all evil in China (and many other developing nations). The argument, however, that we have to accept the corruption simply because China is developing doesn’t quite hold water. Look at their investments in space and defense and big bridges and needless skyscrapers. If they’d put a fraction of those efforts into reining in corruption maybe we’d be getting somewhere. Replacing a skyscraper is no big deal. Replacing lakes and rivers and farmland isn’t as easy, and will take generations. How about some serious prioritizing?

Update: Do not, repeat do not, miss Laowai’s excellent post on land use in China.

This is definitely the topic du jour; Lisa has a great post on the pollution in Xinchang and the riots it caused.

A new thread.

This may be Jerome’s most outspoken and eloquent post yet. It is available on his own web site, but I asked him for permission to reproduce it here, it’s so good. Enjoy.
——————————————————————

Taking Out China and Finding Your True Friends
Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

General Zhu Chenghu of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently tipped his hand and showed his true colors as he boasted in the typical bullying fashion of one accustomed to a superior/subordinate ranked society. Zhu threatened that if the United States would get involved in a war between China and Taiwan, China would not hesitate to use its nuclear weapons on America’s West Coast and any reachable US cities. There is nothing too new in his threats. Chinese generals and even businessmen who like the feeling of superiority that such posturing gives have done this in the past. You hear it in Asia and even in the Chinese sections of cities like Los Angeles.

For some, Zhu’s statements can be seen as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) letting the PLA blow off steam and act tough. Others may see it as one of many CCP test balloons i.e. have the military make some bold threats to see how the western powers react. If their response is tough, the CCP can then deny that Zhu was speaking for them. If however the western powers show a possible softening on their defense of Taiwan, then Beijing has gained a step and can ratchet up the rhetoric.

What is more surprising in General Zhu’s statement, however, is his unabashed and blatantly expressed disregard for the lives of Chinese citizens. Chinese leaders in the past have had no qualms about making cannon fodder (here read nuclear fodder) of their citizens. Mao’s willingness to let millions of Chinese die to serve his aims and ego is well documented. However, in the past the reality of such disregard was always masked with protestations of love for the common man. Not so with Zhu, he brazenly went on to say that China “should be prepared to lose all of the cities east of Xian.” Given that American nuclear striking power includes submarines in the South China Sea, this statement would also include all cities south of Xian.

Whether Zhu’s patriotic pride and territorial grasping would be satisfied in making a wasteland of everything east and south of Xian and whether Zhu himself would most likely station himself in a command post northwest of Xian are open to obvious speculation.

Nevertheless, two things stand out from Zhu’s threats. First he reveals the Legalistic Tradition’s typical manipulation of the Confucian superior/subordinate roles that pervade Chinese society. The general masses must always believe that the central government has their best interests at heart. Subordinates should always be ready to make appropriate sacrifices (here read all cities south and east of Xian). After all, that is why the CCP government controls all the media so that the masses should know what to believe and what is best for them–and not find out otherwise.

Second, Zhu’s talk is the standard discourse of the bully who has had the superior role as mentioned above. He points to the vulnerability of the opposition. “You may have weapons but you are vulnerable. We have weapons to destroy US cities and we don’t care about our people. So, you better think twice and give in to our demands.” Hitler effectively used such posturing with Chamberlain for “peace in our time.”

Some Sinophiles in the US have been arguing in Chamberlain fashion that we just “need to understand China, then we can all live in peace.” Hello? What part of “If you don’t give in to my demands and do what I want, then I will nuke you,” don’t you understand?

Zhu’s rhetoric seems more to be taking a page from North Korea’s style of bargaining or vice versa. Some speculate the two countries are working more in tandem.

Zhu threatens further that opposing China would be harmful to the US economy, but “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” Vulnerability is a gate that swings both ways. If the US economy and the world’s were harmed, China’s would be devastated.

Let’s put aside for the moment, Zhu’s willingness to make a nuclear wasteland of all that is east and south of Xian and examine the issue of economic vulnerability.

When you come down to it, China would be a lot easier to take out economically than most countries imagine. A country no longer needs a land army to take out China; one would not even have to place a single soldier there. No, all a country would have to do is take out China’s economy; take out key energy and industrial locations and it would self implode. This is a vulnerability that even Japan and other countries in the region could exploit when threatened by China, and knowledge of which, the CCP wishes to deflect.

China right now depends on its economy growing at a rate of 10—15% a year. Beneath its surface is a pressure cooker building up. With its own internal troubles and unrest, the government realizes it must keep the lid on and let steam off periodically.

The government controls the media and constantly clamps down on any gatherings and potential sources of trouble. Take note on how the religious Falun Gong and other groups are regularly stamped down on and how recently even the public burial of Zhao Ziyang, Tienanmen friend of the people, was denied. The ease with which the recently orchestrated anti-Japanese riots were turned on and off like a steam valve illustrate both the government’s need to deflect the focus onto an enemy outside and the easy way the media is used to manipulate the public.

What keeps the masses satisfied under such draconian control is the fact that the economy keeps growing and money is being made. People can put up with losses of liberty if money is being made, but what would happen if the economy stopped growing? What if it had a minus growth rate? All the social unrest that is underneath the surface would boil over if China’s economy came to a standstill and layoffs were rife.

Some might question what then about the world economy? They stress how the world economy is tied to China. But how closely is it? What would really happen if the Chinese economy would tank? How long would it take to replace Chinese factories with factories in poorer countries? What would it take to replace Chinese consumers with consumers in other lands?

The factories of China recently stole the lion’s share of textile production etc. from the factories of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh etc. Such movements could be reversed. The factories of the above countries would be more than happy to see the shoe be on the other foot. All those items that bear the “Made in China” tag could once again be easily “Made in Indonesia” etc.

Then there is the myth of the great China consumer market. If marketers would get over their prejudice and do their homework they would see that India and Pakistan could serve just as well as consumers. These countries will have a population in excess of China within a decade. Marketing people would just have to work a little harder; but haven’t they had it a little too easy anyway?

So how much would it really take to set the economy of China back? What power and sources like the Three Gorges Dam etc. would need to be destroyed? What ports bombed and blockaded and therefore what trade stopped? Once the major cities and industries were out, it would simply be a matter of periodic bombing to knock out any new developments.

China’s current great strength is its army but that army can only be used to brutalize countries like Tibet and suppress Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia and to threaten China’s immediate neighbors.

No, the days of putting a land army on China are over; Japan had tried that, but the Chinese always had more land to retreat to. But now Japan would not need a land army to set China back; after a war of exchange of missiles and bombings, would not Japan recover much more quickly than China? I would also hazard that Japan’s air defenses are better than China’s. Going a step further, in a tit for tat nuclear exchange with the USA who do you think would come out on top?

Given this, what the rest of the world has to examine and realize is that it does not depend on China as much as it thinks it does. Certainly not to the extent that it will let itself be held hostage by nuclear threats by the likes of people like Zhu. The economic role China plays as producer and consumer can be easily be replaced in time by many nearby countries that are less belligerent. Has India ever threatened to nuke the USA? The world does not need to listen to such bullying threats.

The world has also to realize the extent it is already being manipulated and held hostage by the China market. I applaud a country like Italy for having the courage to stand up to China and grant Chen Shui-bian, the President of Taiwan, a visa so that he could attend the Pope’s funeral. China, which has been trying to control the Catholic Church, then refused to attend that same funeral.

No one wants war; but as long as the hawkish generals in the PLA feel that can pressure the world to their wishes, the threats will continue and increase. Does anyone recall how Hitler said he would be satisfied with the Sudetenland?

There is a toadying strain of Sinologists in the West, who wish to preserve their expense paid junkets to lecture and do research in China. These gained prominence in the Clinton administration and they will downplay Zhu’s remarks suggesting appeasement.

Zhu’s threats should be a wake up call to the world. Do we really need a trading partner that says, if you don’t give in to my demands to take over a free democratic country like Taiwan, then I will nuke you regardless of the cost? What demands will be next? The world is beginning to compete for dwindling oil reserves, water supplies etc.; it is a time when rational minds will be needed to build a better world. Zhu has already shown the true face of China that those living in Asia (not those who periodically are wined and dined there on junkets) have known all along.

It is true that businessmen often have more allegiance to the dollar than to their country or principles, and Taiwanese businessmen are no exception. However, as the world enters an era of dwindling resources, it is time to restructure paradigms. People like Zhu belong to a different and past age that can only see the world in terms of superior/subordinate role relationships; they will sacrifice anything before giving up their role.

It is time to recognize China’s true intent in business, the strings attached, and the manipulation involved before the threats get worse.

______________________

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D., co-author of Island in the Stream, a Quick Case Study of Taiwan’s Complex History and other works has lived and worked in Taiwan for 16 years.
Other writings can be found at http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome

Is there a tech support person in the house? I’ve now received five separate emails, only from readers in Taiwan, saying they cannot access my site. They get the following message when they try:

You don’t have permission to access on this server.

A 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an Error Document to handle the request.

Can anyone tell me what’s going on? Is this a problem with my server that I can fix, or has the PRC taken over Taiwan and banned my site?

Update: Another Taiwan reader says he’ seeing this: “Apache/1.3.33 Server at www.pekingduck.org Port 80”

Help!

I found this very moving, that Germans are so adamant about seeing these men for what they were – heroes.

German political and military leaders commemorated the unsuccessful attempt to kill Adolf Hitler 61 years ago, laying wreaths Wednesday at the former Nazi military headquarters where the plotters were executed.

Military chief of staff Gen. Wolfgang Schneiderhan and the supreme court president, Hans-Juergen Papier, laid wreaths at the Bendlerblock building, now the Defense Ministry, where the plotters were executed after their plan to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb failed on July 20, 1944.

The executed plotters included Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg and other high-ranking soldiers from the German aristocracy. Two generals were given the chance to take their own lives and one did.

A separate ceremony was held to honor the more than 2,500 Nazi resisters executed between 1933 and 1945 at Ploetzensee, on the outskirts of Berlin. German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries praised their efforts.

I lived in Germany for more than a year, and the outspoken loathing of the Nazis I heard expressed by so many young Germans struck me as truly sincere and right from the heart. In the University of Munich there is a monument to the White Rose students — a group of young students who distributed anti-Nazi literature and were murdered by the Nazis. I would stand there and wonder, how was it possible? A lot of Germans wonder the same.

While it was the most shameful period for Germany ever, there were heroes. That they’re remembered like this even today speaks to the miraculous transformation of Germany after the war and the people’s diligence in never sentimentalizing or romanticizing the Nazi monsters (as the Chinese have done with Mao and the Russians with Stalin, who enjoyed a surge in popularity after the USSR’s collapse). May it always stay that way.

In two threads below, readers have raised some intriguing questions about the safety of farmers growing crops on farmland polluted by industrial waste and runoff.

This raises a whole slew of questions. China’s water is probably the world’s most polluted. And yet seafood is universally popular there. And since water is the main ingredient of just about every kind of food, aniumal and vegetable, how can any food from China be unaffected by the pollution? Even in beautiful Kunming, in the heart of the country’s bread basket, there is a huge lake that is one of the world’s most polluted. So I am wondering, how can you eat fish and vegetables from China (and anything else indigenous to China) without becoming a receptacle for toxic substances? This is a serious question, and maybe there’s a factor I’m unaware of that makes these foods totally safe. Commonsense tells me, however, that if you water plants with poison, some of the poison is going to get into the plants. No?

My Internet connection was down all day today, hence the lack of anything new. I’ll try to post something after dinner, but I suspect I may not have the energy. So let’s use this as an open thread, and I promise, more to come tomorrow.

I got my tickets to Asia, so it looks like I’m really heading back.

Xinchang is the site of the latest riots, and it appears the villagers are learning how to maximize return on their efforts.

After three nights of increasingly heavy rioting, the police were taking no chances on Monday, deploying dozens of busloads of officers before dusk and blocking every road leading to the factory.

Protesters, who say the pharmaceuticals factory at Xinchang pollutes their water, were blocked on Monday by police barricades. There is rising discontent in China with the authorities’ failure to respond to grievances.

But the angry residents in this village 180 miles south of Shanghai had learned their lessons, too, they said, having studied reports of riots in towns near and far that have swept rural China in recent months. Sneaking over mountain paths and wading through rice paddies, they made their way to a pharmaceuticals plant, they said, determined to pursue a showdown over the environmental threat they say it poses.

As many as 15,000 people massed here Sunday night and waged a pitched battle with the authorities, overturning police cars and throwing stones for hours, undeterred by thick clouds of tear gas. Fewer people may have turned out Monday evening under rainy skies, but residents of this factory town in the wealthy Zhejiang Province vow they will keep demonstrating until they have forced the 10-year-old plant to relocate.

“This is the only way to solve problems like ours,” said a 22-year-old villager whose house sits less than 100 yards from the smashed gates of the factory, where the police were massed. “If you go to see the mayor or some city official, they just take your money and do nothing.”

The riots in Xinchang are a part of a rising tide of discontent in China, with the number of mass protests like these skyrocketing to 74,000 incidents last year from about 10,000 a decade earlier, according to government figures. The details have varied from incident to incident, but the recent protests all share a common foundation of accumulated anger over the failure of China’s political system to respond to legitimate grievances and defiance of the local authorities, who are often seen as corrupt.

A sign of the leadership’s growing concern over the increasing turbulence can be seen in a proliferation of high-level statements about the demonstrations.

In a nationally televised news conference this month, Li Jingtian, deputy director of the Communist Party’s organization bureau, complained that “with regard to our grassroots cadres, some of them are probably less competent, and they are not able to dissipate these conflicts or problems.”

Now is definitely the winter of our discontent. The CCP has been sending out signals they favor a compassionate approach, helping the oppressed villagers and seeking to rein in the corrup local officials. Maybe this can be a test.

You have to read the article to see that this is about much more than water pollutioun. The pharmaceutical plant is ruining people’s lives. It will take more than a police barricade to quell the furor.

The lugubrious music of Taiwan pop idol Jeff Chang (“Bu yao dui ta shuo…”) is reverberating through my house, bringing back all kinds of memories (his music played in many a Beijing elevator while I was there). It seems like a good time for an open thread.

I sent off my request for a rewards ticket to Hong Kong and if it’s accepted, I’ll leave for Asia on August 18. I plan to stay a full three weeks, eight days in Taiwan, the rest of the time in China. Wish me luck.