China and Climate Change Negotiations Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC

Many Northern countries were critical of the role played by China, India, South Africa and Brazil in the UN Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in December 2009 . Ed Miliband, the UK’s climate secretary at the time, in an article in The Guardian, accused China of hijacking the Copenhagen summit and “holding the world to ransom” in order to prevent a deal.

 

As one who attended the event, I would place more blame on the U.S. Since the          Kyoto Protocol on climate change was agreed at Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, the U.S. has refused to become involved in any serious effort to reduce greenhouse gases. The U.S. insists that everyone must cut equally at this point in time. They forget that the wealth of the U.S. and northern Europe was based for the past 100 years on intensive use of fossil fuel.  This is why the  UNFCCC talks about  “common but differentiated responsibilities” when it comes to responding to climate change.

 

China has unique problems combating climate change. First, as critics are quick to point out, China is now the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Secondly, China has surpassed Japan as the second largest economy in the world. Thirdly, China’s foreign exchange reserves, which in 2010 stands at a staggering US$2 trillion, is the highest in the world. Fourthly, China has seen rapid economic growth since the early 1980s, which lifted over 300 million people out of poverty.

 

In response to the above, the Chinese point out that its population is more than four times the population of the U.S.  First of all, it is important to state that China’s per capita greenhouse gas  GHG emissions are a third of the U.S. Secondly, for all the economic gains of the past three decades, China is still a relatively poor country.  It may come as a surprise to many that China’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) ranks below the top 100 countries in the world.  In terms of social development China is 92end in the list compiled by 2009 Human Development Index of  the UN Development Programme (UNDP).  China argues that it must keep moving along the path of economic growth in order to improve the livelihoods of a further 600 million people, some of whom in 2010, live on less than a dollar a day. China claims that there is no similar level of poverty in the U.S., Europe or Japan, so expecting the Chinese to take the same steps today as countries who have built their wealth on fossil fuel is patently unfair.

 

Speaking during the Tianjin Climate meeting, Xie Zhenhua, China’s top negotiator said that for a country that is still developing, it is unreasonable to expect it to set limits for GHG emissions while rich nations failed to cut their own emissions. He believed that it was unfair for countries with a per capita GDP of $40,000 a year to demand that a country with a mere $3,000 per annum GDP submit to a common GHG reduction regime.[1]

 

Furthermore, as the work shop of the world, China is subsidizing other countries’ carbon budget. Zhao Zhogxiu, head of the International School of Business and Economics,  claims that that when a “Made in China” Barbie doll is shipped out, it leaves only one-tenth of its monetary value in China, but three-quarters of its carbon emission budget is picked up by China. So, in fact, the Chinese workshop is now subsidizing other countries which have allowed the manufacturing sector in their own countries to dwindle, because goods are available cheaply from China.[2]

In terms of its energy source, China is also at a disadvantage when compared to richer countries.  The energy supplies of these countries come from very different sources. China, on the other hand, is still very much dependent on coal. In 2008, electricity generated from coal accounted for a massive 75% of China’s power generation capacity.[3] Even though China is investing heavily in clean energy, it still expects coal to provide a significant amount of energy in the next few years. This is why it is keen to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. This process could be speeded up if wealthy countries were willing to share new technologies with China.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Clifford Coonan, “Climate change talks in China generate more heat than light,” The Irish Times, October 7, 2010.

[2] Zhao Zhongxiu, “Four Obstacles to a Low-Carbon Economy,” China Today, Our Hopes for Cancun” page 50

[3] Jiao Feng, “Chinese Companies Battle Emissions,” China Today: Our Hope For Cancun, page 37.

China, now an economic Superpower, Flexes it muscles Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC

In last week’s column I described how China, because of its economic prowess, has now entered the global stage.  This new strength was evident at the G20 meeting in Seoul South Korea on November 11 and 12, 2010. Because of its growing balance-of-payments with China, President Obama wanted the Chinese to revalue upwards their currency the yuan.  He did not succeed.  An editorial in The Guardian, describes what happened. “The summit communiqué is full of good intentions, expression of co-operation and agreements to make future agreements. But the bottom line is that China has not back down. It went on to make a very important political judgement. “ If you seek a symbolic moment when the United States ceased to command the 21^st century world and ceded its place to the Asian century, this week in Seoul was arguably that moment.”[1] Personally, I think that defining moment was reach almost one year ago when China scuppered any possibility of a significant agreement on climate change at the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December 2009.

China is also using its vast economic resources to silence any criticism of its  human rights record.  The most recent row between China, human rights organisations and some Western governments has centred around the detention of Liu Xiaobo. He is a 54 year scholar, poet, writer and former professor of literature. In 1989, during the pro-democracy protest in Tianamen Square in Beijing, Liu Xiaobo staged a hunger strike. He played a significant role in negotiating the peaceful retreat by the pro-democracy students.  Since then, he has been detained many times.

In 2008, he helped draft a pro-democracy manifesto calling for more freedom, human rights and equality.  His “crime” from the Chinese government’s perspective was the call to end the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on  power. Initially, only 303 Chinese citizens signed the Charter. However, even thought it only survived for a short time on the internet before being axed by the censors, more than 10, 000 people signed the document. Liu Xiaobo was arrested the day before the document was published and charged with “subversion.” He was sentenced to 11 year prison sentence on Christmas Day 2009.  The Chinese government was furious when, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Mr. Liu the Nobel Peace Prize on October 8, 2010. It had warned that Norwegian government that awarding the Nobel Prize to Mr. Liu would strain diplomatic relations between the two governments. The Nobel Peace award put Chinese government’s human rights record back on the international agenda.

Immediately after the new broke, the Chinese government did two things. Inside China they placed Mr. Liu’s wife under house arrest. She had publicly invited scores of Chinese activists and celebrities to attend the Oslo ceremony. The authorities seized her mobile phone and placed security cameras on the building. There has also been a significant crackdown on other human rights activists. Pu Zhiqiang, a human rights lawyer, claimed that he has been under surveillance since Mr. Liu’s award was announced. Speaking of the Chinese authorities he said that, “ They know they don’t have any legal grounds for this, but they fear nothing.”  The Chinese government also published polls purporting to reflect the views of ordinary people who expressed displeasure that the Nobel prise was awarded to a “dissident.” Stories also appeared in the media, assailing the human rights record of the United State and other western countries.[2]

On the international front, Chinese officials began to use its wealth to encourage  other countries into boycotting the ceremony at which the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded.  While the United States and a few other governments called for Mr. Liu to be released, some other countries have been very circumspect, because they do not want to antagonize the Chinese government and, as a consequence lose business opportunities in China.  In early November, the Chinese officials called in foreign diplomats to warn them against their countries attending the Nobel Awards ceremony.[3] The Chinese authorities have let it be known that there will be consequences for countries which attend the award ceremonies.

Geir Lundestad, the director of the Nobel Institute told reporters on November 15^th 2010, that several ambassadors had asked to have the date of accepting the invitation to the ceremony postponed to give them more time to get clear instructions from the home countries. It is a new world and China has a lot of clout!

 

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[1] “G20 Seoul survivors.” The Guardian, November 13, 2010, page 42.

[2] Michael Wines, “China Urges Europeans st Snub Nobel Ceremony, www.mytimes.com/20/10/11/05/world/asia/05china.html?hpw=&pagewanted-print

 

[3] Ibid.

 

 

China’s Economic Growth and Environmental Damage Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC

In last week’s article on China I wrote that its remarkable levels of economic growth during the past three decades has lifted almost 300 million people out of   poverty.  In the process of selling manufactured goods across the world, China has built up enormous foreign exchange reserves.  These reached $2.3 trillion in September of 2009, compared with only $83 billion for the United States, the richest country on the planet. [1]

Such amazing levels of economic growth do not come without major costs.  Initially, when the economic reforms were introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, farmers did quite well. Under the “responsibility system” they were to allowed to  whatever they produced above the state quota level.  However, within a decade, the cities began to boom and this drew a huge migration from rural areas into cities. The industrial city of Shenzhen has grown from four million to nineteen million in a space of 10 years. Many of these internal migrant still live in poverty. Even in dazzlingly modern cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou with their high-rise buildings there are significant pockets of poverty with up to ten people living in a single room.  Another feature of the economic boom is that the gap between rich and poor grew by 50 %  when compared to the late 1970s. As a result in 2009,  century, 1 percent of Chinese households controlled 60 percent of the country’s wealth. This growing inequality is a major problem for the Chinese communist party because it can lead to widespread social unrest, which in turn, could have dire consequences for the party, as happened in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states in eastern Europe.

The environment is another major casualty of China’s brisk economic growth. The drive to build and expand cities has taken a huge toll on agricultural land.  During the past twenty years urbanization has claimed 6.475,000 hectares across the country. Each year roads and other infrastructural projects devour 768.42 squares kilometers. The  figure is rising by almost  6%  each year. The land which is lost is some of the most fertile lands in the country.

In the past 30 years many of the heavy industries, that once polluted areas such as Pittsburg in the U.S. and the Ruhr Valley in Germany, have transferred to China. These include steel, coke, aluminum, cement, chemicals, leather and paper. The vast majority of these factories use coal, which supplies almost 70 percent of China’s energy.  Much of China’s coal contains high concentrations of sulphur which increases levels of air pollution.

The city of Handan, situated 300 miles north of Beijing, is a typical example of what is happening. It has become a giant industrial complex because of the presence of rich veins of coal and iron ore and the fact that the city has easy access to the north-south railway. The coking, steel and iron factories in the city cover four square miles.  Night and day these factories belch out pollutants. Residents know that if they hang their clothes out to dry, they will turn black within hours. In recent years, industrialists from Handan have bought cleaner steel mills and other heavy industries from European companies such as ThyssenKrupp in Germany, Société Métallurgique de Normandie in France and Arbed in Luxembourg.  Handan is not the only pollution black spot in China. Seven of the ten most polluted cities in the world are now located in China.  Such pollution is taking a huge toll on human health. It is estimated that more than 300,000 premature deaths each year can be attributed to airborne pollution.

In 2004, the Chinese government began setting targets for reducing energy use and curbing emissions, particularly from heavy industry. Not everyone was happy with this decision, since slower growth rates could lead to higher levels of unemployment. By 2007, targets were set to produce 16 percent of China’s energy from renewable sources, mainly hydro and wind energy, by 2020.

Naturally, all this energy producing over $1 trillion of good for export each year has pushed up Chinas greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, China overtook the U.S. as the largest CO₂ in the world. The Paris based International Energy Agency estimates that over one third of the greenhouse gas emissions are incurred in the course of making and transporting goods for export.  Many are asking; should countries which benefit from these cheap goods share the carbon cost of their production?

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[1] `Frank Dillon, “Growth of China’s middle class my represent huge opportunity for US,” The Irish Times, November 8^th 2010, page 19.

China in the 20th Century Fr. Seán McDonagh

I am a Columban, missionary, priest. I spent many years working on the island of Mindanao in the Southern Philippines.  The original name for the Society of St. Columban,  was the Maynooth Mission to China.  This is still its legal name in Ireland.  It was called the Maynooth Mission to China because the founders of the Society had studied for the priesthood in Maynooth and one of them, Fr. John Blowick was a professor of theology in Maynooth.  Our patron, St. Columban was the most famous of the Irish monks who built monasteries in Europe from the 6^th to the 8^th century. His feast day is November 23^rd.

By the time I entered the seminary of the Society of St. Columban, here in Dalgan in 1962, all Columban missionaries had been expelled from China during the early part of the previous decade.  Still, I was always fascinated by China and spent a considerable amount of time reading back issues of The Far East. In that mission magazine Columbans described their work and mission in China from the time they arrived in 1920 until the last priest was expelled in 1954. There were stories of dedication and heroism when missionaries attempted to respond to the needs of their people most of whom lived in extreme poverty.  The thirty years which Columbans spent in China were difficult years. In the late 1920s, missionaries had to face bandits. The early 1930s saw massive floods in the area of central China where Columbans worked.  This was followed by war when the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931 and six years later they attacked Beijing, Shanghai and Nanking.

The Japanese occupation of China was very brutal.  Some estimate that China lost between 15 – 20 million people in World War II. The majority of these were civilians, but there were over 2 million military causalities.   One of the most brutal events during the occupation was the Rape of Nanking. Both Columban diocese,  Hanyang  under the leadership of Bishop Edward Galvin, and Nancheng under Bishop Patrick Cleary, were occupied and looted by Japanese forces. The  story of the Columbans in China is  told in a gripping  and readable way by Fr. Neil Collins in his recent book Who Has A Blade for a Splendid Cause, published by Columba Press.

Unfortunately, for the Chinese people, the end of World War II did not bring lasting peace to China. The conflict between the Kuomintang under General Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists under Mao Tse-tung re-ignited.  In 1928, the Nationalist government had forced the Communists to retreat to remote area of northwest China.  After the defeat of the Japanese the rivalry intensified.  There were a number of attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement, but these failed and hostilities broke out. Gradually the Communists gained the upper hand.  In October 1949, the Communists captured Beijing and declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In December of that year the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, and that government has remained on the island ever since.   Almost immediately after coming to power, the Government of the Peoples’ Republic of China began to attack and undermine the tiny Catholic community in China.  Assets such as schools, hospitals and orphanages were seized. Missionaries were accused of being anti-Chinese and were put on trial before being deported. Some were goaled.

Under the leadership of Mao China’s economy hardly grew at all between the 1950 and the late 1970s.  In fact, there were disastrous social experiments like the Great Leap Forward in 1958 and The Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.  In 1978 under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China began to promote a series of economic reforms. For the next three decades China’s economy grew at eight or nine percent each year.

This rapid economic growth in recent decades has improved the living standards of a vast number of people.  In the early 1980s, sixty percent of the population lived on less than a dollar each day.  A dollar-a-day is the measure of poverty which the World Bank uses to compare levels of poverty across the globe. This dollar-a-day is just enough to cover the cost of basic subsistence.  According to World Bank statistics, poverty in China declined from  64 %  of China’s population in 1981 to 33% in 1990, to 15%  by 2004.  In 2010, it is expected to be well under 10% percent. While recognizing that there are political and human rights issues in China, this period of rapid economic growth in China is the largest and fastest movement out of abject poverty which as ever happened in all of human history.